Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) have announced that they will be making India the export manufacturing hub for BS VI range of trucks. The brand will be ready to meet the new emission norms coming in play from April 2020, and the brand has already achieved over 1.4 million sales of Euro VI vehicles. Daimler received certification for BS VI in July 2019, so their products in the commercial segment will surely be ready soon.
BharatBenz trucks and buses will be launched well ahead of the BS VI deadline and the brand already has a head start. Also, from 2021-22, the brand will begin exporting Made-in-India trucks. Daimler claims to have invested over INR 500 crore to localise their Euro VI technology for BS VI norms in India. More than 2 million kilometers of testing has been performed with over 1,000 new parts having been developed. The brand reveals that they still have a high 80% localisation on their new emission compliant products.
DICV might consider exporting their trucks and buses from India to markets like Mexico, Chile & Brazil which will also follow suit to meet the new emission norms. By Q1 of 2020, DICV will start to launch their trucks and buses with the upgraded engines. Also, the OM926 series of engines will start being exported from 2021-22. The Oragadam plant in India is the only Daimler production unit which produces, engines, trucks, buses, transmissions for 4 brands which includes BharatBenz, FUSO, Mercedes-Benz & Freightliner.
DICV has more than 200 sales & service outlets combined in India.