The Hindu Business Line : DaimlerChrysler to enter truck market

DAIMLERChrysler India Pvt Ltd (DCIL) is all set to create some action in the country's growing truck market, where it is gearing up for a new-year launch of its first truck in India, the 40-tonner Actros.

The DCIL Chief, Mr Hans Huber said that the truck, which has recently completed the homologation process, is now ready to take on competition by early next year when it is expected to roll into the market. The company is also simultaneously working on plans to launch its premium buses by mid-2005 and will make its initial foray into the Indian market with a couple of models for inter-city commuting.

The company is initially foraying into the market with a tipper version of Actros targeted mainly at the mining industry. It is now in the process of getting a tractor-trailer version of the truck homologated for the launch later next year. Actros, which will cost an estimated Rs 50 lakh plus, will set off fresh action in the high end of the truck market, which has been witnessing growth of 18-20 per cent and has a volume of around 400 units annually.

"There is a definite market in the upper end and we want to tap this business opportunity," Mr Huber said. Actros will be pitted in the market against products from Volvo, which sold an estimated 300 units this year and Tata Motors, which is adding to its commercial vehicles portfolio after its recent acquisition of Daewoo's commercial vehicles business.

According to Mr Yashodhan Deshmukh, Senior Manager, Commercial Vehicles, the company plans to import the cabs and chassis from Germany, while a Mumbai-based company, HYVA, will manufacture the tipper body. "From a level of hundred units in the first year, we plan to push sales to approximately 2,000 units in 4-5 years," he added. The tipper has been extensively trial-tested in the mining belt at Chandrapur (near Nagpur) and the company plans to focus on this region for sales before moving on to Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh where there are extensive mining operations.

Actros will have, among other things, features such as an air-conditioned driver's cabin and a `hill-hold' system for extra hold during steep up-hill gradients. The company plans to launch the tractor-trailer version of Actros in the first quarter of next year and plans to target it for heavy-duty applications, Mr Deshmukh said. Meanwhile, DCIL's plans to get into the fast-growing bus segment in India is gathering momentum, with the company now considering the launch of CBC 1728 and CBC 1730 models for inter-city application. The models, which were globally launched last year, will be rolled out here by mid-next year with the chassis being imported from the company's Brazil plant. The body will be built by Satluj Motors, Jalandhar, Mr Deshmukh said.

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