'India safe bet for Bharat Benz'

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles' (DICV) Bharat Benz range is rightly positioned to serve the rising Indian population which needs more infrastructure, said a company official on Wednesday.

"An annual population growth of 15 million people will amount to an addition of 75 million people in five years... they need more food, more schools, more buildings and many other needs which can be served by Bharat Benz," said MD and CEO Erich Nesselhauf, as he sought to stress the role DICV can play to facilitate the creation of this infrastructure.

Speaking to reporters at India's largest construction equipment exhibition Excon 2015 as DICV displayed 11 trucks from its construction and mining range, he termed their outlook for India as "very, very positive" and a safe bet, and said he is pinning his hopes on infrastructure projects and mining auctions government of India will come up with.

Among this was its 12 litre capacity, six cylinder mining truck Bharat Benz 3134 powered with OM 457 Mercedes Benz engine and available in rock body and coal carrier variants.

Nesselhauf said higher payload, better fuel efficiency and lower maintenance costs are the key differentiators of Bharat Benz vehicles.

"DICV is the fastest company to hit 30,000 vehicles sales mark since the launch of Bharat Benz vehicles in September 2012," he said.

"India is playing an important role Daimler's global operations. DICV is exporting India make trucks under FUSO brand to more than 17 countries and plans to increase its market presence in 30 more countries in two years," he added.

The company's Oragadam plant in Tamil Nadu exported more than one million parts to Daimler entities across the globe.

"Our Indian operations will become more and more important for Daimler trucks, with regards to sales volumes as well as parts and knowledge transfer," said Nesselhauf.

DICV, a 100 percent subsidiary of Daimler AG, is also planning to launch Bharat Benz vehicles in Nepal in the first quarter of 2016.