First export for Daimler Buses India

Daimler's production of buses in India ramped up a gear recently, with Daimler Buses India exporting its first chassis.

The Head of Daimler Buses, Hartmut Schick, and the Head of Daimler Buses India, Markus Villinger, both met in Cairo, Egypt, to mark the delivery of the chassis to long-term Daimler customer, MCV.

The 9t chassis is one of many to be fitted out with bodies in Egypt by MCV and then sold as Mercedes-Benz buses through MCV's national dealer network.

Mr Schick said the delivery of the first export chassis was an important milestone.

"The export of bus chassis from India to Egypt is yet another demonstration of how we are successfully exploiting our global presence," he said.

"Our global production network allows us to offer appropriate and competitive products for every market."

Karim Ghabbour, the founder and Managing Director of MCV, said Daimler's product was a good match for their needs.

"We're convinced that the chassis from India will ensure our buses' high quality and at the same time expand our product range with a high-performance vehicle that will be offered at attractive terms," he said.

The OF 9t bus chassis with front-mounted engines are manufactured at the Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) plant in the south-eastern Indian city of Chennai.

The chassis are technologically similar to those used in the medium-duty BharatBenz trucks, which also roll off the assembly line in Chennai. As a result, Daimler was able to begin with exports before the bus plant was completed at the Chennai site.

DICV's bus venture was launched in March 2014, with Daimler investing Euro 50 million ($A65 million) in the project. The Chennai bus plant is spread over 113,000 square metres within the existing DICV premises, and Daimler says production of Mercedes-Benz and BharatBenz buses is slated to begin mid-year.

Daimler says an initial annual production of 1500 vehicles will ramp up to 4000 vehicles over time.