Daimler India CV’s Erich Nesselhauf to move to Germany for global manufacturing

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) has announced a change at the helm. Erich Nesselhauf, who has been managing director and CEO of the company since June 2014, is to return to Germany to take over global responsibility for Manufacturing Engineering at Daimler Trucks’ headquarters effective October 1, 2018. His successor will be announced in due course.  

Commenting on the development, Hartmut Schick, Head of Daimler Trucks Asia, said: “We thank Erich Nesselhauf for more than 10 years of dedicated service in this strategic growth market. Under his leadership, we have firmly established our footprint in India, which includes our domestic BharatBenz business as well as exports from India to markets around the globe.” 

Nesselhauf joined Daimler Trucks’ Indian project organisation in 2008 and built the local procurement and supply chain strategies from ground up. He was involved in the selection and training of the newly formed set of suppliers to achieve the required high localisation level of more than 90 percent today.

Effective June 2014, he was named managing director and CEO of DICV. Under his leadership, the company further accelerated its ramp-up in the Indian CV industry as it advanced to a production of almost 100,000 vehicles since 2012, domestic sales of more than 75,000 BharatBenz units in India, vehicle exports under the BharatBenz, FUSO, Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner brands to over 40 markets across the globe and more than 50 million quality parts from India supplied to other Daimler entities in Europe, Japan, North and South America. 

DICV, which has made an overall investment of more than Rs 5,000 crore, produces and sells in India above 9 to 49-tonne trucks and, under its bus division, BharatBenz buses and Mercedes-Benz coaches. DICV’s state-of-the-art production plant at Oragadam near Chennai, spread over 400 acres, is also home to DICV’s headquarters and  R&D operations and features a highly modern test track. It also produces for Daimler Trucks’ brands of FUSO, Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner. Trucks, buses, bus chassis and knocked-down vehicle kits are exported to more than 40 markets in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.