Scania Commercial Vehicles India has so far focused on the mining sector to sell its heavy-duty trucks. The Swedish commercial vehicle maker is now looking to expand its truck offerings into applications beyond mining, including first-mile e-commerce and heavy-haul freight, as it seeks to grow its scale in India. Its management sees India as a key market going forward.
“We see a lot of potential in India outside of coal mining. On-road markets, some niche applications are looking for more technological products, more powerful products, and we are very good at it. Then we are planning to build more modules in order to reach more niches and to grow gradually on the road,” Scania Commercial Vehicles India Managing Director Silvio Munhoz said.
E-commerce is one of the major applications Scania will focus on, while continuing to cater to its core mining segment. According to him, demand for trucks in e-commerce is not limited to small commercial vehicles for last-mile deliveries. “When you look at the factory that manufactures the product to the distribution centers, then we have a lot of requirements for big trucks, big trailers, truck and trailer, this is a trend,” he said.
“The market is moving from the traditional truck to longer composition, faster, reliable ones. Instead of having a truck for 3-5 years and then replacing it, they can run our truck for 7-8 years without any overhaul. They are starting to do cost calculation and e-commerce has to have very reliable transportation logistics.”
Scania will also be looking at the heavy-haulage segment more strongly, having already sold units of a tractor-puller module and planning to offer more options. The company sees demand for high-power vehicles to transport large equipment, including power transformers, and other such products from factories to ports and vice versa.
Munhoz also sees a big opportunity in transporting imported coal from ports to power plants. “We see potential also in transporting from the harbor to the power mills because there is a lot of coal being imported. The transport of this coal is not like the big transportation; it is a truck and trailer, and we see a good potential market for us,” he said.
Meanwhile, Scania will be expanding its product portfolio as it enters new segments. The automaker currently has three truck models with multiple variants in its India portfolio and plans to add more gradually. “Next year, we are going to do some trials to see the possibility of applying different products in different applications and see if the TCO is working. If the TCO is working, it is just a decision to start to bring. The decision is to grow,” Munhoz said.
Scania expects to sell 220-250 trucks in India this year, more than double its sales last year, Munhoz said. The automaker currently imports CKDs of its trucks and assemble at the facility in Narasapura, Karnataka, which has an annual capacity of 2,000 units. At Bauma CONEXPO INDIA 2026, Scania Commercial Vehicles India expanded its heavy-duty mining portfolio by unveiling the G 560 Super 10x4 Mining Tipper. ENDS