In
its domestic business, DICV recorded strong growth of 35% with sales of 22,532
trucks (2017: 16,717 units) in the year 2018, surpassing the growth rate of 28%
achieved in 2017. This positive development was both due to the strength of the
BharatBenz product portfolio which continues to resonate with the rising number
of value-conscious customers, and to the expansion of the brand’s pan-Indian
sales and service network, which grew from more than 130 to over 180 touch
points in the course of the year.
“With more than 22,500 truck sales last year,
we further established India as the 5th largest individual market for Daimler
Trucks worldwide, underlining the importance of DICV and BharatBenz for Daimler
Trucks,” Arya explained.
DICV’s
exports also developed favorably in 2018, increasing by 8% to 7,054 trucks
(2017: 6,553 units). The company now supplies vehicles to 50 countries in
Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia; Chile, Ivory Coast, Cameroon,
Rwanda, Ghana and Egypt were added as export destinations in 2018. Overall,
more than 20,000 vehicles have been delivered since the start of DICV’s exports
business in 2013.
Further
milestones were reached in the year 2018: The mark of 1,00,000 units was crossed
in production at DICV’s manufacturing plant near Chennai, which is an integral
part of the global production network of Daimler Trucks & Buses.
Underlining the hallmark reliability of BharatBenz products, the first
BharatBenz customer entered the ‘kilometre millionaire’ club, having operated
his BharatBenz truck on more than 10 lakh kilometres with the original,
factory-installed powertrain.
Outlook:
set for continuous growth with BS-VI on the horizon
For
the year 2019, DICV expects a continuous positive development both in its
domestic and exports business. With BharatBenz, focus areas include the full
digitalization of the customer ecosystem, further expansion of the sales and
service network, and products that provide even better value for the customer.
“Our
full attention is on India’s transition to BS-VI in just over a year, and we
are confident to add the next chapter to our success story. We are fully
utilising Daimler’s extensive global Euro 6 experience, and we combine this
with our customer and market insight to create the best for Indian CV
customers,” said Arya,a dding that, “In parallel, the third phase of our
network expansion will double the number of our sales and service touchpoints
in the next 2-3 years and take us even closer to our customers.”
With
regard to the new axle load regulations, DICV is upgrading the entire domestic
truck portfolio and will launch models and variants in a staggered approach.
The first customer vehicle of that new product generation, a 55-tonne tractor with best in class GVW
(gross vehicle weight), will be handed over to a BharatBenz customer in
Rajasthan in the coming week.
Source:
Daimler India Commercial Vehicles