[GTO]

Talk about localisation! Honestly, I find the combination rather unimaginative. But well, never know what clicks in India. Whether it works or not depends entirely on 'em Indian truckers.



High Points

- Daimler launches "BharatBenz"; brand to represent entire Daimler India Commercial Vehicles portfolio of trucks from 6 to 49 tonnes.

- Dr. Dieter Zetsche says "We are sending a clear message with our new truck brand: Daimler is at home in India. Our BharatBenz trucks are the right combination of Daimler’s DNA and India’s market know-how. These trucks will be developed and built in India, for India, and by specialist employees from India.”

- India has become the world’s second largest market for Medium and Heavy-duty trucks.

- The product range in the Light-duty segment is based on the Fuso Canter platform, while the heavy-duty range is based on the Mercedes-Benz trucks platform.

- The company will roll out trucks in 2012 from its manufacturing facility at Oragadam, near Chennai. Spread over about 160 hectares, the facility also houses a test track.

[lejhoom]

That's a clever move. I remember years ago when TATA was manufacturing the trucks under license from Dailer they were called TATA Benz. Those trucks came with the Benz three-star on the front grille. I remember distinctly because we had a military-auctioned truck that was built by TATA but had the three-point star.

[julupani]

Well the reason why Tata called its trucks Tata Benz is still valid today. That is there is still a trust in outside technology in India. Which is why Tata till today mentions that its Prima range has been developed all over the world.

Thus I think the change of name was completely unnecessary. Just Daimler CV India would have been fine with trucks branded just as Daimlers.

What DICV is probably trying to do is remove a fear of foreign brand trucks and help its integration into the mainstream truck market. But that will truly only be achieved by keeping the total life cycle costs of the trucks as low as possible and not just adopting a desi name.

@GTO
Something like the car market can now be seen in the CV market too, with DICV trying to break into the traditional Tata-ALL bastion while at-least Tata looking to compete in the premium truck market with the Volvo FM/FH and the Mercedes Actros by bringing in the Prima.

[teamveevee]

Daimler unveils Bharat Benz; to invest Rs 4,400 cr in 5 yrs - Yahoo! News

The brand would offer Indian customers an entire range of trucks from six to 49 tonne across various applications from next year.
Stating that this is the fifth brand for the German automaker, Daimler Trucks and Buses Head- Andreas Renschler said, "We are launching a brand for the middle market segment that plays to win. This segment is expected to grow as much as 80 per cent of the Indian truck market till 2020. That will be a game changer".

No plans to introduce the FUSO range in India? Any way, the premium brands got a slightly different strategy for India, a different brand in a different price point with out diluting the premium brand's value. (Volvo - Eicher ). Interesting years ahead for the Indian auto industry. Traditional low cost indian makers (Tata, AL, Mahindra) go up the value chain, while Premium brands (Volvo, Benz) going the otherway

[hanmust]

Some snaps from the Daimler Global Media release. It seems Daimler is very serious about Indian CV market, they have also brought the most powerful truck variant Actros SLT http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commer...thread-30.html

[2cents]

Good move I guess, on the branding part. While platform sharing is inevitable, exclusive branding for India will also put down cribs like 'in UK they get this same model with AC, parachute and a washing machine, why are we being discriminated!?'

I wonder if there is any possibility that we will also see BharatBenz buses plying our roads some day?!

[directinjection]

Originally Posted by lejhoom

I remember years ago when TATA was manufacturing the trucks under license from Dailer they were called TATA Benz. Those trucks came with the Benz three-star on the front grille. I remember distinctly because we had a military-auctioned truck that was built by TATA but had the three-point star.

They were marketed as "TATA-Mercedes-Benz" but were popularly called "TMB", the abbreviated version of the trade mark.

Originally Posted by julupani

I think the change of name was completely unnecessary. Just Daimler CV India would have been fine with trucks branded just as Daimlers.

Daimler does not want to dilute the prestigious Mercedes-Benz trademark by using it on relatively less sophisticated "Indianised" trucks that it will launch under the Bharat-Benz trademark. So from the viewpoint of brand management, it's a good move.

Originally Posted by teamveevee

No plans to introduce the FUSO range in India?

It's being introduced under Bharat-Benz trademark.

[the VTEC guy]

Well If I was in the trucking bussiness I would have loved to see tristar as the logo and not "BharatBenz". Come on Daimler you could have done better. This is very unimaginative.
Now we will see more Merc logos stolen to replace the "BharatBenz" logo :-)

[rajeev k]

In no time they were called TATA Benz. It was Benz alone though it was written as Tata Mercedes Benz. In 1971 or around then it was rechristened as TATA and Benz was dropped and from then on the name TATA caught on.

[tushky]

Originally Posted by the VTEC guy

Well If I was in the trucking bussiness I would have loved to see tristar as the logo and not "BharatBenz". Come on Daimler you could have done better. This is very unimaginative.
Now we will see more Merc logos stolen to replace the "BharatBenz" logo :-)

I dont thinks so. Bharatbenz trucks will have different logo. i can see one in the photo

[pjbiju]

Why did they have to create a new brand, when they have a great brand of their own well known India. Is it that they are going to price their trucks to compete with Tata, AL & Eicher trucks?

[directinjection]

Originally Posted by tushky

I dont thinks so. Bharatbenz trucks will have different logo. i can see one in the photo

What the VTEC guy had meant was that owners of BharatBenz trucks would remove the BharatBenz logo from their trucks and replace it with stolen Merc star logo.

[esteem_lover]

I don't care what the logo or monogram is going to look like or how it is going to be called. I will be glad if we have trucks not competing against each other at 15-20 kmph hogging the road. At least now they will be going at 60-80 kmph.

[VW2010]

don't care what the logo or monogram is going to look like or how it is going to be called. I will be glad if we have trucks not competing against each other at 15-20 kmph hogging the road. At least now they will be going at 60-80 kmph

On the other hand there will still be trucks driving at 15-20 adding to the long queue of these faster moving trucks. Imagine the nuisance these trucks can cause in the city driving at speeds similar to cars. I fear the faster moving volvo over the slower moving trucks in the current scenario. If these trucks started moving faster with minimal infrastructure we have, we will end up driving on bad roads all the time.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

I don't care what the logo or monogram is going to look like

Just received, and added to the opening post, the official BharatBenz logo.