Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), the Indian arm of Germany’s Daimler Truck AG, has recorded its highest-ever annual domestic sales of its BharatBenz vehicles (above 9-tonne) in the calendar year 2023, helped by robust demand and network expansion.

The company’s total sales of trucks and buses in the Indian market grew by a whopping 39 per cent at 25,435 units in 2023 when compared with the domestic volumes of 18,331 units in 2022. The company’s previous highest annual domestic sales were recorded in 2018 when it sold 22,530 units.

In 2023, total medium and heavy commercial truck sales (excluding DICV volumes) in India grew by 9 per cent at 333,339 units, while bus volumes rose 61.5 per cent to 47,473 units, according to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers data.

DICV is under the umbrella of Daimler Trucks Asia, which includes countries such as Japan, India, and Indonesia, among others. In 2023, India reported the highest growth in sales, while Japan recorded a 28 per cent rise in truck and bus sales at 39,021 units. Sales in Indonesia declined by 20 per cent to 35,311 units.

“In India, Daimler Truck’s heavy-duty vehicles are in high demand. The BharatBenz brand is capitalising on the rapid infrastructure growth of the country, expanding the dealership network to more than 330 sales and service locations nationwide in 2023,” said Daimler Truck’s latest Annual Report.

Trucks will remain the backbone of our economy and society. Road transportation remains number one for long-haul and last-mile distribution. India’s market carries significant growth potential as the upper medium-duty and heavy-duty truck market is expected to grow by 70 per cent by 2030 from 2025 level, said the Daimler Truck AG’s investor presentation.

Zero-emission vehicles

Discussing zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs), Daimler Truck AG has indicated that its ZEV portfolio will cover three technologies to serve different customer needs – battery electric vehicles, hydrogen fuel cell EVs, and hydrogen combustion engines. The group’s sales of zero-emission trucks and buses stood at 3,443 units in 2023 — up from 914 units in 2022.

“The fuel choices will be many. Diesel will continue to be a dominant fuel till other fuels offer cost affordability, the technology matures and most importantly we have the necessary infrastructure to support the transition and adoption,” Satyakam Arya, Managing Director & CEO, DICV, had told businessline.

In the near term, blended fuels and gas (CNG and LNG) will be choices that will have some level of penetration in the overall market. This will be purely for geography-specific applications, considering the availability of infrastructure. In the long term, fully electric for intra-city applications like LCVs and buses, and hydrogen for the long haul will be the fuels that could emerge as sustainable propulsion technologies.

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“The challenges will still be cost affordability, technology maturity, and development of infrastructure – whether it is charging or storage or retail distribution of hydrogen,” he noted.

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