Daimler India crosses 20,000 trucks at Chennai

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt. Ltd, the 100 per cent wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler AG, announced that it had crossed the milestone of the 20,000th locally produced trucks from its plant at Oragadam near Chennai in Tamil Nadu, a company release said.Only two-and-a-half years after start of production of the first BharatBenz heavy-duty truck, the 20,000th locally produced truck, a BharatBenz 2523C tipper, has rolled off the production lines at DICV’s plant in Oragadam. About half of these 20,000 trucks have been manufactured just within 2014, highlighting the rapid growth that the production site has recently experienced.

“By crossing the production mark of 20,000 trucks, we achieved the next milestone of our DICV success story,” Erich Nesselhauf, CEO and Managing Director, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt. Ltd, said. “We have transformed the Indian truck industry with our modern trucks.”

“20,000 trucks made at the Oragadam plant according to our Daimler top quality standards is something that our production team can rightly be proud of,” added Sven Graeble, Head of Operations and Manufacturing Engineering, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Pvt. Ltd.

The DICV plant in Oragadam produces trucks and engines of the three brands — BharatBenz, FUSO and Mercedes-Benz. Since the start of production of heavy-duty trucks in June 2012, DICV raised the production volume monthly. The product portfolio grew by several variants of heavy-duty trucks followed by medium-duty trucks in the last months. Along with the trucks presented in January 2014, three tractor trailers and one truck for construction-mining purposes, BharatBenz now offers vehicles in the range from 9 ton to 49 ton. In addition, DICV assembles the Mercedes-Benz Actros from CKD (completely knocked down) kits in Oragadam.

Since May 2013, DICV has also added FUSO trucks to its production portfolio in Oragadam. They are determined for the Asian and African growth markets; with Indonesia and Uganda being recently launched.

Next to trucks, BharatBenz and Mercedes-Benz Buses will roll off at the new bus manufacturing plant which is constructed within the existing premises of DICV. The bus plant is spread across an area of 27.91 acres and will be completed by the second quarter of 2015. An investment of Rs. 425 crore has been earmarked for the bus project for an installed capacity of 1,500 units in the initial phase. The capacity can be further expanded to 4,000 units subsequently. The DICV plant will thus be the only Daimler Truck plant worldwide, that manufactures three brands of trucks and buses under one roof.

Photos: Daimler India Commercial Vehicles