Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) will expand capacity from 36,000 units at its Chennai plant in 2014.
Despite a meager 3% growth in the Indian commercial vehicle market last fiscal year, DICV is banking on infrastructure, consumer durables and the automobiles sector to push sales of its 9 to 49 tonne trucks, Economic Times of India said. DICV expects to grab a 20% market share of the Indian CV market by 2020, Sreeram Venkateswaran, marketing and sales chief at DICV, said.
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CVs from the Daimler stable will be launched in September 2012. DICV will sell 2,500 units in 2012 calendar, he added. Daimler will compete with Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, Eicher Motors and others.
Daimler said it would try to increase the life of the fleet and hence minimise the burden on truck owners through offering a range high on functionality, comfort and safety.
“Big fleet owners in India are known to replace part of their fleet once in four years. The DICV range will be lower maintenance and hence not burdensome for truck owners,” he said.
The company has spent INR44,000m in India and expects Chennai to run at full capacity by 2014. By 2013, it should be using 55% of the current 36,000 capacity and once the plant reaches full rate, the second phase of capacity expansion would begin, he said.
