Daimler India expects to be cash positive by next year

Launches new BS-IV compliant heavy duty trucks

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) is expected to reach the operational break even by this year and to be profitable by next year.

The German automajor's wholly-owned subsidiary DICV is one of the leading commercial vehicle majors in the country.

Erich Nesselhauf, managing director and CEO, Daimler India Commercial Vehicle said that this year company expects to achieve operational break even and expects to achieve cash profit by next year.

The company bets big on BS-IV, which will also lead to level playing field DICV. Till now DICV vehicles are seen more as premium player in India. With BS-IV norms comeing into effect from April 1, 2017 existing players may have to increase the cost by 8-10%, this will narrow down the price of Daimler products and other companies' products.

Nesselhauf said the trucks are priced at the same as BS-III. The profitablity will also be aided by the newly launched vehicles today.

Daimler India launched new heavy duty trucks, which meet BS-IV norms. The company said the new trucks were priced the same as BS-III vehicles.

Daimler India Managing Director Erich Nesselhauf said that with the new launches, BharatBenz was all set to enter the next stage.

He said that with around 1,000 BS-IV trucks handed over to customers already, BharatBenz was leading the BS-IV transition in the commercial vehicles segment.

The vehicles launched on Friday come fitted with 'Profit Technology': Fuel consumption is low, maintenance cost has been lowered by 15 per cent, kerb weight reduced by 400 kg, which means payload can increase by 400 kg.