Just two years after the foundation stone was laid, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles' plant at Oragadam has begun humming with activity.
Just over a month after it showcased its product range in Hyderabad, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) inaugurated its impressive truck-building facility at Oragadam, Chennai on April . The state-of-the-art plant with an initial capacity of 36,000 vehicles was constructed in a record time of 24 months and will see up to 90 percent localisation within the next three years. DICV’s total investment is Rs 4,400 crore including the manufacturing facility for BharatBenz trucks as well as R&D. While the heavy truck models are based on the Mercedes-Benz Axor platform, the Fuso platform will be the base for the light trucks.
With a 17-strong product portfolio by 2014, DICV is preparing for the promising Indian truck market, which has developed into the world’s third largest market with a volume of more than 330,000 vehicles in the weight classes of five- to 49 tonnes in 2011.
The start of production of the BharatBenz heavy-duty trucks is scheduled for the third quarter of 2012. The Daimler subsidiary Daimler Financial Services will offer financing and insurance products for dealers and customers.
The spanking new plant was inaugurated by J Jayalalitha, chief minister of Tamil Nadu, along with Dr Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the Board of Management Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars; Andreas Renschler, Daimler Board of Management member responsible for Daimler Trucks and Daimler Buses; and Marc Listosella, CEO and managing director of DICV.
The 160-hectare manufacturing site also houses an integrated R&D centre and a state-of-the-art test track. The plant is one of only three Daimler truck plants worldwide to combine truck assembly and components production at one location. Listosella said that more than 40 percent of its suppliers are located within a 40km radius.
Speaking at the inauguration, Dr Dieter Zetsche said: “Our new Oragadam-Chennai plant shares Daimler’s stringent quality standards with its sister plants around the world and is unique. It is the only Daimler plant in the world that houses products which combine Indian engineering with German and Japanese DNA under a single roof. This way, we are optimally positioning ourselves for one of the world’s strongest and fastest-growing truck markets.” He added, “India is not only an emerging market, it is a thriving market. If India’s economy were to be a car, it’d be the splendid Mercedes SLS AMG.”
Meanwhile,Andreas Renschleremphasised that “DICV is an outstanding example of Daimler Trucks’ Global Excellence strategy. Our worldwide production network and our global research and development efforts enable us to develop, manufacture, and sell trucks in India, for India. We do all of this in close proximity to our customers, for our customers.”
He added that at present, only four percent of trucks in India belong to the ‘Modern domestic category’ and that this number will go up to 80 percent by 2020. “There will be around 70 dealers in 12 states to begin with for BharatBenz and by 2014, we will have 100 dealers,” he added.
Speaking at the inauguration, chief minister J Jayalalitha said that Tamil Nadu will see a new industrial policy 2012 that earmarks industry-specific policies for the automobile and automotive components industries. She added, “With Daimler’s success here, I wish more German companies will invest in Tamil Nadu in the future.”
With Gujarat turning attractive for automakers, her concern is not misplaced.
KARTHIK H
Photography: Aditya Bedre & Richard Kienberger