Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) is expecting growth to accelerate during 2017 helped by its sub-9 tonne truck for export markets and new generation Bharat Benz heavy-duty trucks.“DICV will start the manufacture of this third truck production family in May 2017,” said Marc Llistosella, President and CEO, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) and head of Daimler Truck Asia. “The sub-9 tonne vehicle will initially be designated for exports as its FUSO brand variant and later it might be sold in Indian markets too.”
“With the launch of a third product line for exports in 2017 at DICV, we will enter the next stage in the strategic collaboration of DICV and MFTBC. This successful journey, which we began in 2013 pays off day by day,” he said. The year 2016 was a mixed one for Indian commercial vehicles industry. DICV kept its focus on profitable growth due to successful exports which enabled it to more than compensate for the current challenges in the domestic market. During 2016, DICV sold 13,081 Bharat Benz trucks in the domestic market against 13,997 in 2015 and exported 4,500 trucks against 2,100 trucks.
“With the new projects in the pipeline, we are geared up for further growth in 2017. This is the base, from here we are on good path,” said Erich Nesselhauf, managing director and CEO, DICV.
During the second half of 2016, DICV recorded negative sales in the domestic market, compared to the good first half due to an extremely challenging market. Mr. Nesselhauf citied the uncertainty about the rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation which forced the buyers to postpone their buying decision as they were not sure about the GST rate structure.
“While the market environment will continue to hold challenges for the industry, we are planning to roll out a new generation of BharatBenz heavy duty trucks in the coming months. It will be in the segment between 16 and 49 tonnes, which accounts for the larger portion of the brand’s truck sales,” he said.
Regarding the upcoming industry transition to the BS4 standard, he said: “We are fully ready and have been selling BS4 vehicles since more than a year already.”
