The Hindu Business Line : DaimlerChrysler to drive in jeeps, Mercedes CVs

Talking to presspersons, Mr Hans Michael Huber, Chief Executive Officer, DaimlerChrysler India Ltd (DCIL), said the company was testing the waters with jeeps, and the decision to bring them in as completely built units (CBU) would depend on the interest generated by dealers.

Currently, two of the company's jeeps are in the country and would be showcased to dealers in Jaipur. The criteria would also be whether the dealers would be interested in setting up a brand new showroom for jeeps as the company does not want to mingle it with Mercedes models, Mr Huber said.

The official said if there is sufficient interest, the company would look at two major hubs. He, however, pointed out that CBU formed a small part of DaimlerChrysler's business. The company would continue to concentrate on its existing Mercedes models as "this brings in the bread for the company." The price tag for jeeps, he said, is yet to be decided, but would not cross the price of the M Class.

On the company's performance for the first quarter ended March 30, 2004, Mr Huber said 530 cars were sold during the first three months. Of this, 20 cars were from the CBU segment.

Sales in the E Class segment are still strong, Mr Huber said, adding that customers in this segment still had to wait for delivery. Response has been good in the S Class segment, too, which saw sales of 30 cars. But Mr Huber said, "We could have done better." The company is projecting sales of nearly 1,850 cars for the current calendar year and is estimating a 15 per cent growth in volumes.

On the parts business, Mr Huber said the company had improved the processes and set up a warehouse in Wagholi about one and half years ago. This year, it changed its logistics and opened a new parts centre in Singapore, bringing down the transit time by nearly half.

The official said DCIL's component exports had touched 79 million euros for the year ended 2003. It estimates exports to touch close to 85 million euros for the current year.

Mr Huber said the recently launched Maybach was now on its way from Mumbai to Pune and would land up at the Automotive Research Association of India. Few orders had come in for the vehicle but considerable customer interest had been generated, he added.

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