Actros drives into India

The launch of the Mercedes-Benz Actros 4040K and 4840K tippers finally marks the entry of DaimlerChrysler in the Indian commercial vehicles segment. DaimlerChrysler India (DCIL) was to launch the Actros last year. A senior manager told Autocar Professional the delay was due to the fact that the company realised, during homologation, that it had brought in the wrong model for the Indian market. "Even if we had gone ahead with this model, we would not have found a suitable market. We lost four months in this," he said.

It took another two months to homologate the 40-tonne and 48-tonne tippers specific for mining applications. Scouting for a local partner for hydraulics also took additional time. The high-end tipper market for mining applications is about 800 vehicles a year, and growing at 10-20 percent annually. "We are initially targeting 20 percent of this market," the senior manager said. This puts the initial sales target for the tippers at 160 vehicles a year. He also added that DCIL will first bring its Setra range of buses before entering the tractor-trailer segment.

The logic behind entering the CV segment with these models lies in providing aftersales service at site locations, complete with technicians and spares. "A mining application is a localised one. Therefore, setting up aftersales support becomes that much easier," Dr Wilfried Aulbur, managing director and CEO of DCIL, told Autocar Professional.

The company's strategy for India is to first import the 4040K and 4840K in completely-built form before assembly at DCIL's plant in Pimpri. The 4040K is priced at Rs 55 lakh and 4840K at Rs 65 lakh. The only visible Indian-sourced component is the Hyva India tipper body and ramp kit costing Rs 3 lakh – importing the same body would cost Rs 21 lakh. However, Indian components makers export commercial vehicle parts like phalanges, camshafts, lights, rims and brake parts that are assembled into kits abroad. "There is an opportunity for doing things in India. There are some good suppliers, (but) we have to look at it in detail and see what can be done," said Dr Aulbur.

Moving on to passenger cars, DCIL has sold 450 E-Class, 340 C-Class, 40 S-Class, and 20 each of the CLS and CLK models in the first six months of 2006. Dr Aulbur declined to provide sales targets for the year, adding the company sees good sales for its S-Class, E-Class, CLS and CLK models. "We are also happy with the progress of the C-Class. Overall, I think it's going to be a good year," he added. Last year, the company sold 2,019 cars in India.