Daimler India marks milestone

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles recently celebrated the production of its 20,000th truck at its Chennai plant

Daimler Truck has passed an important production milestone for its operations in India, with Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) recently seeing its 20,000th truck roll off the line at its production facility in Chennai/Oragadam, in south-western India.

The milestone model in question was a BharatBenz 2523C tipper, which found itself at the centre of the celebration on Thursday, December 18.

Making the feat all the more impressive is the fact those 20,000 trucks have been produced in just two-and-a-half years, with around half of them produced within 2014.

According to Erich Nesselhauf, CEO and Managing Director of Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, Daimler is rapidly growing its footprint in the massive Indian market.

"By crossing the production mark of 20,000 trucks, we achieved the next milestone of our DICV success story," he said.

"We have transformed the Indian truck industry with our modern trucks. That’s confirmed by our customers and proven by a high acceptance in the market due to the excellent quality of our products as well as delivering the best sales and aftersales experiences."

The Chennai/Oragadam plant produces trucks and engines for BharatBenz, Fuso and Mercedes-Benz, while it also assembles Mercedes-Benz Actros trucks from CKD (completely knocked down) kits.

The plant's portfolio began with heavy-duty models in June 2012, while medium-duty models joined the schedule in recent months. BharatBenz now offers models from nine tonnes to 49 tonnes.

The complex will also see the construction of a Mercedes-Benz bus production facility completed in the second quarter of 2015. When the bus facility is finished, the Chennai/Oragadam plant will be the only Daimler Truck factory worldwide to produce three brands of trucks and buses under one roof.

Daimler India marks milestone

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