Truck and bus maker Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), Indian arm German auto major Daimler AG, has recorded a positive growth in the sale of its BharatBenz trucks during the September 2020 quarter, bucking the commercial vehicle market trend in the country.
While the domestic medium and heavy commercial vehicle volumes reported a drop of close to 50 per cent in this September quarter with all players reporting a decline due to the Covid impact, DICV has seen some recovery and posted positive growth.
DICV’s BharatBenz truck sales stood at 2,817 units during July-September 2020 period when compared with 2,672 units in the year-ago period.
“Post-lockdown, DICV has gone from strength to strength. Demand is definitely up. For September 2020 quarter as a whole, our unit sales are up five per cent compared to last year,” Satyakam Arya, MD & CEO, DICV, told
Three key factors
He attributed the performance to three main factors. Buyers’ strong trust in BharatBenz’s technology and the brand’s extensive experience with BS-VI equivalent emission norms around the world helped.
Secondly, the launch of its all-new BS-VI truck portfolio, incorporating industry-leading fuel efficiency, safety, comfort and reliability, in January with the promise of the better total cost of ownership, attracted a good number of buyers.
“Clearance of our BS-IV stock before the April 1 deadline, allowed our dealers to focus on the sale of our new BS-VI portfolio,” said Arya.
DICV has seen an uptick in mining and agriculture segments. To take advantage of the demand revival, DICV introduced its BharatBenz 5228TT (tractor-trailer) model, India’s first 5228TT on a 4x2 tractor.
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“It’s been specially designed for applications like cement, tankers, parcel, market load and tip trailers, so it’s perfect for these and other segments. The 5228TT will set new benchmarks for the tractor trailer segment with improved revenue prospects, fuel efficiency, safety and connectivity, so it’s really helped us gain traction in sales,” said Arya.
The company said that in the BS-VI era, DICV has also been attracting more new customers into its fold as most of the fleet owners see BharatBenz brand as a ‘safe bet’ for long term benefits and gains.
Meanwhile, while a full recovery in the CV industry is expected to take some time as the economy is reviving slowly, DICV is of the view that a well-incentivised scrappage policy will not only spur volumes, but also transform the industry as a whole.
“Older vehicles with poor maintenance and lesser safety features are damaging to the environment and to people. A clear scrappage policy that gets these vehicles off the road will, therefore, reduce accidents and save lives. This policy could also trigger fresh demand by granting owners the proper incentive to scrap. Of course, we must make sure that there are proper scrap centres established based on principles of recycle and re-use before any such policy is rolled out,” he pointed out.