Global automotive company Daimler unveiled the first truck ‘Made in India'. The company announced plans on Wednesday to launch 17 to 18 products in the Bharat Benz brand range from the third quarter of 2012.
The company has already invested Rs 4,400 crore in India.
According to Marc Llistosella, MD and CEO of Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, the BharatBenz range will be manufactured at the new plant in Oragadam near Chennai.
“We will unveil the entire range on 2 March, 2012,” Llistosella said at the Delhi Auto Expo.
Over 100 dealerships have been brought on board, said Llistosella.
According to Daimler, the construction of the plant on an area of 160 hectares is almost completed, and production trial runs for engines and transmissions have already begun.
“The production facility has a total dedicated investment of over Rs 44 billion (approximately €700 million). The plant's initial production capacity will be 36,000 units per year and can be ramped up to 70,000 units per year,” it announced.
Daimler India also plans to increase supplies from domestic ancillary units. It currently has a localization of 85 per cent and cooperates with over 450 Indian suppliers. Localization reflects the proportion of components that has been source locally. With the falling valuation of the Indian rupee, imports have become costlier. Hence, companies are turning to domestic ancillaries for components in order to stay cost competitive.
“We are planning to increase localization to 90 per cent this year to be cost competitive,” Llistosella told reporters.
The new trucks are said to meet India's BS III emissions standard that can be comparable to Euro III. They would be made on an already established truck platform like Mercedes-Benz Axor, a truck variant.
But, the future light and medium-duty range of trucks will be based on variants like the Fuso Canter and Fighter series respectively, Daimler announced.
“We are confident that the introduction of modern trucks with greater fuel efficiency, improved safety features, and competitive pricing will make us the game changer in the Indian trucking industry,” said Llistosella.
The company had unveiled BharatBenz, its exclusive new brand of trucks for the Indian market in February last year. It comes under the Daimler Group umbrella, which also has Mercedes Benz range of vehicles.
He also said that the trucks, which range from 6 to 49 tons in size, are also likely to be exported.
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