GERMANY’S Daimler AG opened its first truck manufacturing plant in India on Wednesday (April 18) to grab a share of the fast-growing market and challenge top Indian vehicle makers.
The plant, at Oragadam near Chennai, will have an initial capacity to manufacture 36,000 vehicles but will eventually nearly double capacity to 70,000.
“India is already the third-largest market for trucks in the world and will become number two by the end of the decade,” Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Daimler's board of management, said at an inauguration ceremony.
“A strong presence in the world implies a strong presence in India,” he added.
The German company, one of the world's largest manufacturers of medium and heavy-duty trucks, will be going head-to-head against Indian companies Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland.
“Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland control more than 80 per cent of the market,” noted analyst Deepesh Rathore at IHS Automotive in India.
Daimler plans to start manufacturing trucks at the $915m (€700m) plant later this year and introduce 17 truck models by 2014.
The Stuttgart-based company said its new “BharatBenz” range of commercial vehicles – "Bharat" means India in Hindi – have been designed and made especially for arduous road conditions and the demands of local users.
“Indian clients often demand by how much they can load over the authorised limit,” Juergen John, production director at the factory said.
Production line workers at the factory will be paid about a tenth of their counterparts in Germany and engineers will take home about a third, John said.
Daimler's BharatBenz unit will offer Indian customers a range of trucks from six to 49 tons and is expected to be profitable by 2015, the company said.
