Bharat Benz, the range from Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, considers India a safe hunting ground and wishes to position itself to serve the growing population and infrastructure needs.
According to a company official, the Bharat Benz range is the best positioned offering to meet growing infrastructural needs. According to the MD and CEO, Erich Nesselhauf, the population is set to grow by 15 million annually and this will take the tally to 75 million people in five years. This will spur requirements for more buildings, infrastructure needs, food and schools, all of which can be served by Bharat Benz and DICV with regard to infrastructure creation.
DICV recently displayed eleven of its trucks from the mining and construction category at Excon 2015, the biggest construction equipment exhibition in India. Nesselhauf termed the company’s India outlook as hugely positive and safe and talked of how he is betting on infrastructure projects and mining auctions courtesy the government of the country. Among the trucks displayed were the 12 litre, six cylinder mining behemoth Bharat Benz 3134 which possesses the powerful Mercedes Benz OM 457 engine and comes with both coal carrier and rock body models. Bharat Benz vehicles stand out owing to higher payload, lower costs of maintenance and improved fuel efficiency according to Nesselhauf. According to him, DICV is the fastest entity to touch the coveted 30, 000 sales point post the launch of Bharat Benz models in September 2012.
Nesselhauf also added that India is vital for Daimler’s global operations and expansion plans. DICV is currently exporting trucks made in India under its FUSO brand to more than 17 countries. The company is also planning to ramp up market presence in at least 30 additional countries within a period of two years. The Oragadam plant of the company in Tamil Nadu exported in excess of 1 million parts to Daimler companies worldwide.
The Indian operations will steadily be more crucial for Daimler trucks especially in relation to knowledge transfer, components and sales volumes. DICV is a 100% owned subsidiary of the iconic Daimler AG and is also considering launching Bharat Benz vehicles in Nepal in 2016’s first quarter.