German CV maker Daimler Trucks announced that its Indian arm Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) has completed ten years of operations in India.
According to a press release from the company, DICV's manufacturing plant in Oragadam near Chennai, spread across 400 acres, including a highly modern test track, was inaugurated in 2012, while the first Bharat-Benz rigid heavy-duty trucks rolled off the line in June of the same year.
Interestingly, the Chennai plant is the only facility for Daimler Trucks globally to produce engines, transmissions, trucks and buses at the same site catering to four brands such as BharatBenz, FUSO, Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner. The release added that the first milestone of 50,000 units was crossed in 2016.
Additionally, it has around 235 BharatBenz sales and service network touchpoints across India and employs about 4,000 diverse, direct and indirect workforce across its plant operations and in regional offices across India, the company noted.
DICV produces and sells BharatBenz trucks above nine tonne, and up to 55 tonne in India tailored to various customer applications, including BharatBenz school, tourist, and staff buses and bus chassis, as well as Mercedes-Benz coaches. While the other products produced by the company in India include medium-duty trucks, construction trucks and tractors. Furthermore, the Indian entity of the company also looks at 40 export markets across the globe, the release said.
Sustainable Approach
The company claims that it uses 85% of its energy from renewable sources adding that it has already harnessed solar power for its manufacturing facility in Oragadam plant and has laid the foundation for an additional capacity of 1.3mW solar photovoltaic plant along with its state-of-the-art test track.
The company’s existing solar energy plant already has a capacity of 3.3mW. DICV is working towards becoming 100% carbon-free by 2025, the release added.