[wheelguy]

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles crossed the export milestone of producing 25,000 made-in-India vehicles in August 2019, six years after it began overseas shipments (file pic, for reference only)

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) today announced and showcased its readiness to transition to the new emission norms of Bharat Stage VI, which come into force from April 2020. Worldwide, Daimler has already sold over 1.4 million vehicles equipped with Euro 6 technology, which is a BS VI equivalent emissions technology. In July 2019, DICV received certification for BS VI from ARAI for its heavy-duty 5588TT truck, confirming that it has successfully adapted its global expertise in Euro 6 emissions technology to the Indian market.

Depending upon the availability of BS VI fuel in India, DICV will officially launch its upgraded range of BS VI trucks and buses in Q1 2020. DICV will begin exporting its OM926 engine series internationally by 2021-22.

Speaking at DICV’s sneak preview today in Chennai, Satyakam Arya, managing director and CEO, DICV, said, “Daimler’s experience of already bringing 1.4 million Euro 6 trucks and buses on the roads means we are easily ready to transition our BharatBenz trucks and buses to BS VI by the April 2020 deadline. With this head-start, we will begin exporting India-built trucks by 2021-22.”

DICV has invested around Rs 500 crore to localise its Euro 6 technology for India, completing 2 million kilometres of testing and over 1,000 new parts. The company says it has achieved “an outstanding localisation rate of above 80 percent on its products.”

“The transition to BS VI opens up more opportunities to export fully-built vehicles, engines and parts to countries like Mexico, Chile and Brazil that will soon migrate to similar emission norms. This further strengthens India’s position as a global production network for Daimler Trucks & Buses,” said Satyakam Arya.

The company’s plant in Oragadam, Chennai, is the sole Daimler location worldwide which produces engines, transmissions, trucks and buses catering to four brands – BharatBenz, Fuso, Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner.


Source: Autocar Proffesional

[wheelguy]

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.

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.”

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.

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.

Source

[dragracer567]

I've been living away from India for quite a while now, so I've never really understood what Bharat-Benz really is!

So, their trucks are built based on the (now internationally discontinued) Mercedes Axor platform while their lighter trucks are based on Mitsubishi Fuso platforms. So, why launch an entirely new brand when the Mercedes-Benz brand itself was well-known?

And I gather that Mercedes-Benz coach buses in India are still sold under the brand-name 'Mercedes-Benz' and not 'Bharat-Benz'? So, are they assembled by 'Bharat-Benz'?

Sorry if I sound ignorant but I genuinely don't understand complicated ownerships and partnerships of some Indian CV brands (Swaraj Mazda, Eicher-Volvo, Force-Mercedes etc.)

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by dragracer567

I So, why launch an entirely new brand when the Mercedes-Benz brand itself was well-known?

And I gather that Mercedes-Benz coach buses in India are still sold under the brand-name 'Mercedes-Benz' and not 'Bharat-Benz'?

The brand name was India specific mainly because of two reasons, one technical and the other symbolic. Starting from the technical side, these trucks have had various changes from the platforms where they have been derived from to suit the Indian conditions which are more harsher and also that there should be some sort of cost effectiveness. For this, quite some adaptations are carried out to keep the initial costs as well as maintenance costs low while not compromising on quality. Hence, these are not exact replicas of some other truck of Daimler or Fuso. Thats the reason a different branding strategy adapted.

Coming to the other symbolic aspect, in a market which was mainly dominated by Tata and AL, the entry of a foreign brand is a little tricky when it comes to market acceptance. If you want to brand a product as "Imported" and carry the same international branding, customers who are used to thinking that Tatas and ALs are easy and cheap to maintain in the longrun would not be confident investing into a foreign brand thinking that it might turn out to be a white elephant. By adopting the BharatBenz name, the symbolic meaning is somewhat similar to a Benz which is made for Bharat and made in Bharat so whoever was curious to know about this brand could be easily convinced, especially if one was a prospective owner. Both these factors have worked quite well for the brand and I believe the performance shown over the last few years does indicate that the brand has been well accepted for both mass market and niche applications.

Coming to buses, I think the competition is directly against Volvo and Scania and not against Tata and AL, hence the branding still remains Mercedes-Benz. Similarly Volvo Eicher stands for the lower range of trucks whereas the premium trucks and buses still carry the original branding.

[asbshyam]

I also see other automotive investments among others - BYD, Mando, Dinex ..

Source : https://twitter.com/Guidance_TN/stat...504068/photo/1