Dailmer to make India export hub, to serve LatAm initially

German auto major Daimler is making its Chennai plant, where it manufactures buses and trucks, a global export hub to serve its Latin American markets from 2022. To begin with it will commence shipments to South American markets like Mexico, Chile and Brazil from 2021-2022, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The company also said it will officially launch the upgraded range of BS-VI trucks and buses in the first quarter of 2020 for the domestic market, depending on the fuel availability. The transition to BSVI technology from next April will throw more opportunities for exports of fully-built vehicles, engines and parts, it said.

Globally, Daimler has already sold over 1.4 million Euro-VI (which is equivalent of BS-VI) compliant vehicles, the company said. Daimler India Commercial Vehicles is a 100 percent subsidiary of the Daimler AG of Germany. Its plant at Oragadam near Chennai manufactures trucks with a payload of 9-49 tonnes besides buses and coaches under the brand name BharatBenz trucks and Mercedes-Benz buses.

"Daimler's experience of already bringing 1.4 million Euro-VI trucks and buses on the roads means we are easily ready to transition our BharatBenz trucks and buses to BS-VI by the April 2020 deadline. With this head-start, we will begin exporting India-built trucks by 2021/2022," Satyakam Arya, managing director and chief executive said. The company will begin exports of OM926 engine series internationally by 2021/22, he said, adding they have received certification for BS-VI in July 2018.

The Oragadam facility is the only Daimler location worldwide which produces engines, transmissions for trucks and buses catering to four brands- BharatBenz, Fuso, Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner. Dailmer has invested around Rs 500 crore to localise its Euro-VI technology for India, in testing, developing new facilities and over 1,000 new parts, and achieving over 80 percent localisation, it said.

"The transition to BS-VI opens up more opportunities to export fully-built vehicles, engines and parts to countries like Mexico, Chile and Brazil that will soon migrate to similar emission norms. This further strengthens India's position as a global production network for Daimler trucks and buses," Arya said..

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