Daimler India unveils updated CV product lines, to roll out 14 offerings this year

Daimler India top management officials with the soon-to-be launched trucks

Witnessing robust growth in volumes of its construction and mining trucks and tractor trailers last year, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) on Tuesday showcased its MY24 BharatBenz heavy-duty trucks, which will be launched in April 2024.  The new heavy-duty range of trucks would be powered by an updated 6.7 litre common-rail BSVI Stage 2 engine.

“Our aim was to challenge ourselves and up the game on total cost of ownership, uptime and reliability, all of which our customers will benefit from with our new MY24 heavy-duty truck portfolio. These trucks reflect our highly evolved product development capabilities, which are being put to good use for creation of new products to help answer future mobility requirement,” said Satyakam Arya, Managing Director and CEO, DICV.

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG, Germany and operating under the umbrella of Daimler Truck Asia,  manufactures and sells in India trucks from 10 to 55 tons and also BharatBenz buses.  The Indian arm of German CV maker will be rolling out 14 new products in 2024 across three different segments.

The first to be launched will be the all-new BharatBenz Rigid range, followed by trucks with the newly-introduced 12-speed Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) and the new trucks for construction and mining sectors.

Sreeram Venkateswaran, President and Chief Business Officer (domestic sales and customer service) said, “With our new trucks we are ready to intensify our presence in the construction and mining space with tippers that are far superior to their predecessors. We are soon launching an all-new Rigid heavy-duty range that will offer best-in-class fuel efficiency, power, torque, safety, reliability and service benefits.”

He also revealed that the construction and mining heavy-duty range of trucks has been completely reengineered for “superior functionality: and comes with many segment-first features. The trucks are also equipped with higher ground clearance, rear shock absorbers and hill hold assist as standard fitment.

“The trucks would be suitable for transport, construction, and tough terrains and have a high-power engine, among many other features,” Venkateswaran said.

As per industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), while the overall Commercial Vehicles (CV) sales increased from 7,16,566 to 9,62,468 units, the sales of Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles increased from 2,40,577 to 3,59,003 units in FY 2022-23 on a year-on-year (YoY) basis.

Growth prospects in CY24

Talking about 2024, Arya stated that it expects the light to heavy-duty market to remain flat in 2024, on account of global geopolitical challenges and the upcoming elections.

“While the sales in the first half of 2024 remain a bit lukewarm. However, the second half will see a strong growth momentum post-election,” noted Arya.

Arya revealed that the total industry volumes (TIV) of 9 to 55-ton segment trucks could range between 3,30,000 to 3,50,000 units and that of buses to be around 50,000-55,000 units in 2024.

Meanwhile, DICV witnessed a 39 percent growth in its sales in the domestic market at 25,930 units in the calendar year 2023. It saw a 35 percent growth in the medium and heavy-duty trucks segment at 23,4000 units and a 107 percent growth in the buses segment at 1,990 units past year.

While talking about the business performance, Arya stated, “Our best-ever sales and financial growth, since inception, was spearheaded by excellent demand for our tipper and tractor-trailer product lines which grew 53 percent and 79 percent, respectively compared to CY2022.”

Its cumulative sales (including exports) surged by 13 percent at 33,391 units while revenues went up by 21 percent last year.