Daimler India Commercial Vehicles rolls out 1,000th BS 6 heavy duty truck

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles on Tuesday said it has achieved a production milestone of rolling out its 1,000th BS 6 heavy duty truck from its facility near here.

The company, a subsidiary of Stuttgart based Daimler, had introduced BS 6-compliant range of trucks and buses in January this year. "1000th BS 6-compliant Bharat Benz heavy duty truck rolls off the line despite lockdown. Over 1,500 BS 6 compliant vehicles manufactured despite lockdown", Daimler India said in a statement.

The company said it was commencing the production of updated high-volume seller 4228 rigid models. "Since premiering our new Bharat Benz portfolio of BS 6-compliant trucks and buses in January, we have been steadily increasing our lead in the industry", DICV Vice- President, marketing and sales, Rajaram Krishnamurthy said. "This is proved again now as we celebrate the production of our 1000th BS 6 compliant heavy duty truck", he said.

The 1000th truck was a 3523R model, bound for one of the over 235 touch points in BharatBenz's rapidly expanding network of dealerships, the statement said. Noting that the production proved a challenge caused by the Covid-19 enforced lockdown for automobile manufacturers, the company said part of the success was on account of over 80 per cent localisation for sourcing BS 6 components.

"We support our stakeholders through the hard times and we celebrate with them in the good times. Today, we celebrate these new production milestones, both with them and thanks to them", company Managing Director and CEO, Satyakam Arya said. DICV has invested more than ₹5,500 crore at its facility in neighbouring Oragadam.

The company produces above 9 to 55 tonne trucks, as well as the Bharat Benz range of buses, Mercedes-Benz coaches and bus chassis. The company's products and parts are exported to more than 50 markets in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.