Daimler India Commercial Vehicles’ (DICV) Oragadam plant near Chennai will be reaching full production capacity of 36,000 next month, said Satyakam Arya, MD & CEO.
“We are closer to reaching the full production capacity of 36,000 units. It will happen next month,” Mr. Arya said addressing mediapersons at DICV’s 10th anniversary celebrations.
The manufacturer of BharatBenz trucks and buses is planning to double the production capacity to 72,000 per annum with minor investments.
According to him, during 2021, DICV recorded a 48% increase in domestic sales and 125% rise in exports, despite significant supply chain headwinds, rising input costs, and impact of the pandemic.
Over the last 10 years, DICV had invested more than ₹9,500 crore at Oragadam, which also houses an R&D centre that caters to domestic as well as global requirements. During this period, the company had sold more than 1.4 lakh bus and trucks in the domestic market.
Mr. Arya said that the vision for the next 10 years was to capture growth and play a significant role in the domestic transportation sector.
Going forward, DICV said it expected the demand to grow and sustain for the next two to three years due to “favourable policies” rolled out by the Union Government followed by an uptick in the e-commerce and logistics sectors.
“We have transformed the truck industry in the last 10 years. Ours is a sophisticated truck. For us, safety, reliability and efficiency are important. We will not be in a segment that doesn’t offer any of these. We are the only manufacturing company that delivers truck comparable to European safety standards,” he said.
On the electric mobility space, he said, “Electric two-and-three wheelers and city buses are being rolled out. Trucks might take some time, for which we need to have charging infrastructure and competing products.”
Asked about their entry into alternative fuels, Martin Daum, Chairman of the Board of Management, Daimler Truck Holding AG said: “India is an important market for us. We will not play in all segments, but will focus on some niche segments.”
