Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) showcased its readiness to transition to the new emission norms of Bharat Stage VI that will come into effect from April 2020.
With this head start, the commercial vehicle maker is gearing up to export India-built trucks by 2021/2022, a top official of DICV said.
Worldwide, already Daimler has sold more than 1.4 million vehicles with EURO VI technology, which is equivalent to BS VI emissions standard.
Addressing the media persons at DICV’s BS VI sneak preview in Chennai, Satyakam Arya, Managing Director & CEO, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, said, “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 scheduled time of April 2020. With this head start, we will begin exporting India-built trucks by 2021/2022.”
DICV invested around Rs 500 crore to localize their EURO VI technology for India, completing 2 million kilometres of testing, developing new facilities and more than 1000 new parts, and achieving an outstanding localization rate above 80% on its products.
“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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Depending on the availability of BS VI fuel in India, DICV will officially launch its upgraded range of BS VI trucks and buses in Q1 of 2020. DICV will begin exporting its OM926 engine series internationally by 2021/22.
The DICV Oragadam plant which manufactures the vehicles is the only Daimler location worldwide which produces engines, transmissions, trucks and buses catering to four brands – BharatBenz, FUSO, Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner.
In addition to completing more than 2 million kilometers of BS VI testing in varied geographies for BharatBenz Heavy Duty and Medium Duty Trucks, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles is also gearing up its after-sales network with learnings from other markets. These competencies have been incorporated into training modules at its dealerships, which now spread across India with over 200 customer touchpoints nationwide.
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