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Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) has seen a slowdown in sales growth of its BharatBenz trucks in India during the July-September quarter. Also, the German truck and bus maker’s market share in the heavy duty and upper medium duty truck segment eroded in the same period.
The company sold 5,252 units of BharatBenz trucks in India during July-September 2018 quarter when compared with 4,855 units in the year-ago quarter. This translates into a growth rate of just eight per cent compared to over 60 per cent in earlier quarters.
Also, during this September quarter, the medium and heavy truck market grew by about 30 per cent (excluding the sales of DICV) and most of the players reported strong growth during this period.
When asked about moderation in growth rate, a DICV spokesman said: “At BharatBenz, our strategic focus continues to be on profitable growth.”
Leading lenders to the commercial vehicle segment concur. While most players are offering discounts to drive sales volume, DICV is the only truck player that doesn’t offer discounts, they said.
Due to the slower growth DICV’s market share in 9-49 tonne truck segment fell to 6.8 per cent in this September quarter from 10.8 per cent a year-ago. However, it is marginally higher when compared with 6.6 per cent in this June quarter.
The company sold 420 buses during the quarter, (280 units), according to a document of Daimler AG.
For January-September 2018 period, DICV’s total truck sales grew by 42 per cent at 17,239 units (12,145 units). Its market share stood at 7.1 per cent (9 per cent).
DICV, which follows calendar year for its accounts, sold 16,717 units of BharatBenz trucks in 2017, up 28 per cent over 13,081 units sold in 2016.
The company recently indicated that it was confident of maintaining double digit growth in its sales due to favourable growth outlook in the next two years.
Implementation of regulations such as mandatory AC cabins and proposed BS-VI compliance norms and scrappage policy are expected to benefit DICV as it is better prepared when compared with the competition due to access to parent's technology.
With superior technology-driven operating capabilities, DICV has been gradually boosting its market presence in select medium and heavy duty segments, albeit at a slower pace than expected.
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