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Daimler India Commercial Vehicles on Tuesday showcased its new heavy-duty truck BharatBenz range for the domestic market here hinting at a strong double-digit growth during the year.
The company, which has a manufacturing base in Tamil Nadu, is set to add another assembly line which will help step up exports to 10 more countries. Currently, the company exports its different models to over 30 countries.
Erich Nesselhauf, Managing Director and CEO of Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, said, “The company, which has achieved a localisation level of over 85-92 per cent depending upon the models, has thus far exported more than 40 million parts to different manufacturing facilities globally.”
Speaking to newspersons, the MD said the company invested ₹4,400 crore in its manufacturing facility initially and gradually stepped up investments, including ₹500 crore invested last year. A new assembly line is being set up where trial runs have begun. The line would be dedicated for exports initially and later also cater to the domestic market.
Last year, the company sold more than 13,000 vehicles in the domestic market, and more than 4,000 units in exports. In a market where over 2,00,000 units are sold during a year, the company has a market share of close to 7 per cent and expects this to go up with its new range. The company is expecting a strong double-digit growth this year.
Referring to the transition to BS-IV regime, he said the company had invested in BS-IV quite early and this would play a big role in its growth story during the year.
He said the country's truck industry has immense potential to go past the 5,00,000 mark in a year, in the near term. It is still under penetrated if global standards are applied.
GST impactOn GST implementation, Nesselhauf said it could cause temporary hiccups in the commercial vehicle segment as it would take time to sink in. But in the long run, it would be positive.
On exports from the Indian manufacturing base, he said the company aims to see exports contributing to 50 per cent of the overall manufacturing capability from India, up from about 30 per cent now.
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