Expressnews
Chennai – Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), a 100% subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG today announced that – despite supply chain headwinds and adverse cost environment – 2022 was one of the most successful business years since starting its manufacturing operations in India. The company reported a revenue growth of 37% and a sales growth of 25% in CY 2022 over CY 2021. 2022 was especially the best year of growth as DICV sold a total of 29,470 domestic and export units of trucks and buses in the calendar year.
Additionally, DICV confirmed that in 2022 it crossed the production milestone of 200,000 vehicles (including domestic and exports) and 200,000 transmissions at its Oragadam manufacturing facility. The company recorded its best ever annual vehicle exports with 11,000 units, best-ever annual part sales (over 245 million parts) and best-ever annual domestic vehicle sales in 2022.
Commenting on DICV’s 2022 annual performance,Satyakam Arya – Managing Director & CEO of Daimler India Commercial Vehicles said, “CY2022 was one of our strongest performing years with 37% growth in revenue and25% growth in sales. We crossed remarkable production milestones as well. We achieved this delightful business success, in just 10 years of our operations in India, having made significant investments in the market since the beginning and steered our way through the complexities the commercial vehicles industry had to tackle in last decade. Our strong financial and sales performance is in spite of the pandemicheavily affecting the commercial vehicle sales in last three years. We achieved this performance by consistently improving our cost and revenue position. In addition, we made significant investments in expanding our product portfolio and launched 10 new models of BharatBenz trucks to offer customers a comprehensive portfolio of tonnage options to select from. We are continuing to work diligently on transforming the way we will be doing business in India by investing on Digitalization, Servitization, Sustainability, Diversity and Inclusion as the cornerstones of our strategygoing forward. We have expanded our R&D operations, have a sharper focus on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, upskilling &reskilling our workforce, and many such initiatives to meet our vision in the mobility space for the near and medium term.”
BharatBenz excellence
In the last decade, DICV has made its prominence felt in the construction and mining space where BharatBenz heavy-duty trucks dominate the segment. Earlier this year, BharatBenz unveiled a comprehensive portfolio of high-powered heavy-duty trucks, such as 3532CM mining tipper, 2832CM mining tipper, 5532 tip-trailer, options ranging from 6×4 and 10×4, especially for construction and mining utility. BharatBenz offers a wide range of tipper products starting from 6-wheeler 13T medium duty trucks to 22-wheeler 55T trucks (tip trailers). These trucks are used in extensive applications including surface construction, mining, irrigation/tunneling and intra-city distribution. BharatBenz’s new generation products are transforming the RMC (ready mix cement) application with engine-driven PTO solutions suiting every concreting requirement.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
With an eye on the future, DICV has started focused initiatives around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) to bring in a more cohesive work culture by helping people revitalize their socio-professional values to help them prepare for a challenging but exciting future. The company has stepped up its Learning & Development initiatives to strengthen the capabilities of its employees so that the learnings can be channeled back into the growth of the organization in the next decade.
Satyakam Arya added, “DICV recognizes the importance and contribution of people towards the growth of the organization. Manufacturing is a people-intensive industry. The nuance, dedication and passion that a human can bring to the system is really incomparable but does complement the technological advancements that are benefiting businesses. I believe that people will play a significant role in moving the needle to achieve the next paradigm in a world that is heavily dependent on technology and digitalization. So, we recognize our responsibility as leaders to help prepare our people for what they will face in the future.”
Environment, Social & Governance
In the framework of its sustainable business strategy with focus on ESG (Environment, Social & Governance) DICV is working strenuously towards becoming CO2 neutral in its operations by 2025. The company’s 430-acre manufacturing facility in Oragadam has 85% of its operations already using renewable energy, among others generated by an in-house 3.3MW photovoltaic plant. The facility is 90% water self-reliant and has an expansive green cover from its Miyawaki forest.
Mobility & Innovation
In 2022, DICV had partnered with IIT Madras Research Park to identify solutions and incubate new ideas to help the company have a formidable presence in the mobility space. DICV is in the process of incubating more start-up companies in 2023 to take its transformational initiatives further.
DICV manufactures four truck brands in its Oragadam facility, near Chennai – BharatBenz (domestic brand), Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and Mitsubishi Fuso. Top quality transmissions manufactured in Oragadam are used in BharatBenz trucks and are exported to Europe. DICV has more than 300 BharatBenzsales and service across India and a strong supplier base of over 400 partners. The brand’s dealerships and service stations are located across India covering national highways on the Golden Quadrilateral North-South and East-West Corridors, within a two-hour reach of customers. BharatBenz has the reputation of manufacturing the safest trucks in the Indian commercial vehicle industry as their trucks are produced with the safest crash-tested cabins in India.
