[amitdatta92]

Originally Posted by D33-PAC

I thought the only reason Bharat Benz was made was to not ruin the status and image conscious Indian buyer's feeling of buying a luxury car only to see a bus or truck on the highway hold the same logo.

Now they're selling buses as regular MB products with a big MB logo ? Then what was the entire point of the Bharat Benz brand and creation ?

BharatBenz is a brand created by Daimler to cater to the mass and modern market in India. Whereas Mercedes-Benz is more of a premium brand. As per my knowledge, they produced MB Actros (a premium deep mining product which competes with Volvo and Scania in that segment) out of their Chennai unit which they have replaced by a value-for-money 3143CM under the BharatBenz branding. The 3143CM is a product which has high localization content and hence priced lower than its big brother. Similiarly for buses, Mercedes-Benz branding has been given to their premium product which I think will be priced more than a crore and compete with brands like Volvo and Scania, whereas BharatBenz ICV buses will be a product to cater to the mass and modern market, a price conscious segment, with competitors like Tata, ALL, Eicher, SML, etc. Also these products have been commonised from their MCV truck platform, hence will have a higher amount of local content when compared to the rear engine coach. So the logic of having different brands goes well.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by amitdatta92

BharatBenz is a brand created by Daimler to cater to the mass and modern market in India. Whereas Mercedes-Benz is more of a premium brand.

Exactly

they produced MB Actros (a premium deep mining product which competes with Volvo and Scania in that segment) out of their Chennai unit which they have replaced by a value-for-money 3143CM under the BharatBenz branding. The 3143CM is a product which has high localization content and hence priced lower than its big brother

The BB 3143CM has high localisation content, but misses out on very many features that are available as standard in the Actros. IMO, it's like comparing a plain-jane TT with a Mercedes Sprinter van

Similiarly for buses, Mercedes-Benz branding has been given to their premium product which I think will be priced more than a crore and compete with brands like Volvo and Scania

If they price the MB buses way over a crore, I doubt they'll find many takers especially with many operators who'd bought the O500/O500RSD coaches having burnt their fingers. Most probably, these buses will be priced at par with the comparable offerings from Volvo and Scania. For the BB buses, the benchmark was the AL 12M

[amitdatta92]

Originally Posted by silversteed

If they price the MB buses way over a crore, I doubt they'll find many takers especially with many operators who'd bought the O500/O500RSD coaches having burnt their fingers. Most probably, these buses will be priced at par with the comparable offerings from Volvo and Scania. For the BB buses, the benchmark was the AL 12M

Apparently Volvo and Scania charge more than a crore for their multi-axle coaches. I hope MB prices it competitively.

Also I don't think the benchmark for BB buses was the AL 12M. It's pretty vague to benchmark a 6 cylinder 12 metre bus for a 4 cylinder 10 metre bus. There are a lot of differences like width/length of body (hence the revenue), FE, maintenance, tyres. The BB buses will more likely compete with the segment of Tata Starbus and Eicher Skyline.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by amitdatta92

Apparently Volvo and Scania charge more than a crore for their multi-axle coaches. I hope MB prices it competitively.

I said way over a crore. There are corporations that have got top of the line B9R based coaches for less than 1Cr Yea, I hope MB prices their new premium coach competitively too.

Also I don't think the benchmark for BB buses was the AL 12M

BB does have plans to introduce proper inter-city coaches in the value segment, and that's where they're benchmarking against AL 12M.