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Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), which is celebrating 10 years of selling BharatBenz brand of trucks and buses in India, has charted a major ‘product offensive’ strategy with a plan to roll out 10 new trucks even as the truck and bus arm of Germany’s leading auto giant Daimler Truck AG seeks to be a niche player in the Indian CV market.
After unveiling its BharatBenz brand in India in February 2011, the company began its commercial vehicle journey with the introduction of three BharatBenz heavy-duty trucks, produced out of its truck and bus manufacturing complex near Chennai, in September 2012. Since then, the company has sold more than 1.4 lakh BharatBenz brand trucks and buses in India and exported more than 60,000 India-built trucks to about 60 countries worldwide.
However, the company’s market share in the Indian CV market is still in single digit with annual volumes of about 15,000 units.
Martin Daum, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler Truck Holding AG, who was in Chennai along with his senior management for the celebration of 10 years of BharatBenz, said DICV’s journey exceeded the group’s expectations in many ways with a strong team and technical expertise in place as also the emergence of Indian manufacturing operations as a strong export hub.
However, DICV could have grown much better had the modernisation of the market in India happened much faster. “We thought the market for sophisticated trucks would grow much faster. But it didn’t. It is far behind initial estimates and we have seen very slow growth in the sophisticated truck space, where BharaBenz dominated,” he said.
Satyakam Arya, Managing Director & CEO, DICV, said BharatBenz would pick and choose its segments and would not be there in all categories. “BharatBenz has gained market share in certain segments and geographies,” he added.
He said the last 10 years were about putting up a solid foundation for the brand and it has successfully created a performing business in an evolving market.
New trucks
DICV would launch 10 new BharatBenz trucks in GVW categories, where the brand has not been present earlier. Among others, a 38-tonne modern truck would also be introduced.
Discussing the shift towards electrification and alternative fuel segments, Daum pointed out that the company would continue to invest in diesel powertrains as diesel has another 10 years if not 15 years of life.
He felt zero-emission required a complete transformation in the energy ecosystem. The use of coal as a source of energy is not the right solution. Also, natural gas is not an area of focus as it emits as much CO2 as diesel and is not a reliable solution for zero-emission goals.
Daimler Group is adopting a three-pronged strategy towards zero-emission goals globally. Firstly, it will make further investments in diesel engines since there is life left for diesel. The second focus area is battery electric vehicles though they would be expensive. The third focus area is to make trucks with hydrogen-based fuel cell drives. But, India is unlikely to see its electric CVs till the infrastructure is in place.
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