Daimler India Commercial Vehicles announces investment of Rs 2277 crore, plans production expansion
Published On May 28, 2020
At a time of pandemic when businesses are facing an uncertain future, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler AG commits further investment in India to expand its commercial vehicle manufacturing capacities at the Chennai plant, exhibiting the long-term promise in the Indian commercial vehicle market.
Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), the maker of BharatBenz trucks today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Tamil Nadu to invest Rs 2,277 crore of investments to expand its CV production at its Oragadam plant. The investment is likely to create nearly 400 new jobs.
DICV was established as a wholly-owned Daimler subsidiary in 2009 to address four strategic targets: serve the strategic Indian growth market for commercial vehicles, leverage its potential as an export base, develop its sourcing potentials for Daimler globally, and leverage specific competencies to provide shared services to the Daimler Group.
Speaking on the new announcement, Satyakam Arya, MD & CEO of DICV said, “This is the second MoU that DICV has signed with the Government of Tamil Nadu. It demonstrates our unshakeable confidence in the long-term potential of India as a market for commercial vehicles and our ongoing commitment to the country as a whole.”
The combination of Daimler’s global network of resources and technological expertise with India’s innovation and cost-competitiveness has made DICV into a strategic pillar for Daimler Trucks.
Firmly established in India
Over the last 8 years since the commercial launch of its trucks and buses later, DICV has firmly established in the Indian CV market. The domestic truck makers dominated by two local firms and the most challenging market in the world.
However, DICV with a focus on the high level of localisation and trucks design and developed for Indian operating conditions has successfully cracked the Indian market.
Since 2012, the firm has sold more than 100,000 medium and heavy-duty trucks in India. This marks an unprecedented ramp-up in the world's toughest commercial vehicle market, taking on local truck brands.
The company first developed its truck test track, and followed-up with a greenfield, integrated manufacturing plant at Oragadam, at the outskirts of Chennai.
At the same time, DICV has exported more than 30,000 vehicles under the brands BharatBenz, Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and FUSO to more than 50 markets around the globe. Moreover, the company has exported 130 million parts to other plants within the production network of Daimler Trucks since 2014.
Responding to the rapidly changing Indian trucking market, BharatBenz has revamped its complete truck portfolio with the advanced BS6 emission compliant. The company heavily invested in technologies in developing the new truck range. What has also helped BharatBenz is the global experience of developing, manufacturing and successfully deploying BS6 trucks across the developed markets.
Despite significant market headwinds, the company has invested in expanding its sales and service network. In 2019 alone, the pan India network has recorded considerable growth of 30%, increasing from 82 touchpoints in 2018 to 236 in 2019.
Also Read: BharatBenz surpasses 100,000 trucks sale, firmly established in India