'Daimler trucks likely to be 5-10% costlier than competition'

BharatBenz trucks from Daimler India Commercial Vehicle’s (DICV), which will be launched in India on September 9, are likely to be priced higher by 5 to 10 per cent than competition.

“The trucks will be competitively priced, but the features we will be offering would offer huge financial benefit to customers and hence price is expected to higher by 5-10 per cent initially,” DICV Vice-President (marketing & sales), Mr V.R.V. Sriprasad, told presspersons here today.

The company has not yet unveiled prices of its commercial vehicles.

He said the trucks would have better payback due to at least 10 per cent fuel efficiency over competition.

The arm of German auto major Daimler, which has committed Rs 4,400 crore in the commercial vehicle business in India, will roll out 17 models in 18 months beginning with a 25-tonne model and at least 70 outlets across the country.

“We have already pumped in two-thirds of the committed amount of Rs 4,400 crore so far in launching BharatBenz trucks in India,” Mr Sriprasad said.

DICV has decided to offer complete solutions to the truck owner from financing to offering complete cashless maintenance of the vehicle.

Speaking about introducing the Bharat name, Mr Sriprasad said survey feedbacks suggested that people did not want only good commercial vehicles, but also the ‘made by and for India’ tag.

Mr Sriprasad said BharatBenz would have a range 7-49 tonnes heavy and light duty trucks with the current market size being 3.2 lakh units per annum.

“It is expected to grow to five lakh units by 2018,” he said.

The BharatBenz Power Yatra, which will cover 22 cities as part of the launch campaign, will cover 8,000 km.

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