Daimler to roll out new sub-9tonne vehicles in 2017

Daimler India Commercial Vehicle, subsidiary of Stuttgart-based Daimler, has lined up plans in 2017 with introduction of a new sub-9tonne vehicles set to be rolled out during the first half of current year, a top official said today.
"Our Indian operations at DICV are a cornerstone of our success at Daimler Trucks Asia. 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..", Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation and Head of Daimler Trucks Asia, Marc Llistosella said.
DICV will start production of the "third truck product family" in 2017 at the Oragadam facility situated about 45 Kms from here.

"The new sub-9tonne vehicles will initially be designated only for exoprts as FUSO brand and the first customer variants will be rolled out in first half of the year", he said.
Stating that 2016 was a mixed bag for domestic commercial vehicle industry at large, Daimler India Commercial Vehicle, MD and CEO, Erich Nesselhauf said, "we have kept our focus on profitable growth in 2016. Thanks to our successful exports, we have been able to more than compensate current challenges in domestic market".
"With new products in pipeline, we are geared up for further growth in 2017", he said.

The company, in 2016, sold 13,081 BharatBenztrucks while it was 13,997 units in 2015 due to a challenging market, which turned negative in the second half of 2016.

However, Daimler said it handed over its 40,000th BharatBenz truck from the facility.
The company also expanded its sales and service outlet to 130 across the country.
On exports front, the company said sales of DICV vehicles shipped to nearly 30 overseas market 'doubled', while exports of parts from domestic market crossed at "35 million parts".
DICV which invested more than Rs 5,000 crore at the Chennai facility spread across 400 acre of land at neighbouring Oragadam, also rolled out 50,000th vehicle in August 2016.
On the outlook for 2017, Nesselhauf said, "we are planning to advance with our BharatBenz brand based on strong products, technologies. A key growth driver for us will be the new generation of our BharatBenz heavy-duty trucks which we are going to launch in coming mnoths".

"In 2017, BharatBenz is going to complete the upgrade of its entire truck portfolio with the launch of its new generation heavy duty trucks in the segment between 16 and 49 tonne GVW..", he said.