Daimler banks on fuel efficiency of BS-VI BharatBenz

When it comes to medium and heavy-duty trucks and buses, DICV sees itself as a fierce competitor, now looking to participate in the public transportation system.

DICV is keen to tap this opportunity and is willing to take part in the tendering process at the right time, said Thomas Fricke, Head, Daimler Buses India.

The pure-play CV manufacturer made its entry into the Mumbai market in 2012 as an aspirational brand. Since then, DICV, which has a manufacturing unit spread over 400 acres at Oragadam has seen rapid growth. “We have sold over one lakh trucks and buses over seven years. We exported more than 30,000 units to 50 countries. We are aggressively expanding. With over 1,300 service points and 237 touchpoints, we are working towards reducing the customer reach time to less than 1 hour, as against the current two hours,” noted Satyakam Arya, MD-CEO, DICV.

Explaining how DICV wasn’t keen on making ‘me too’ products, he said the company believed in challenging the status quo. This is the basis for rolling out the ‘Profit Tech +’ line-up that offered new generation CVs bundling technologies and features, he added.

K Rajaram, Head, Sales and Marketing, DICV, said the company firmly stuck to its core SCR technology that meant “you can fill BS-VI fuel and move.” It is a myth that efficiency goes down with newer version of fuel. In fact, BS-VI is 10 per cent more fuel efficient than BS-IV, he sought to point out. Fricke adds that the multi-functional steering wheel was a first in the bus segment while the navigational features were advanced.

Arya said already there were 15 lakh vehicles plying globally with the Euro 6 technology. In India too, a distance of 50 lakh km, spanning Ladakh to Kanniyakumari, has been tested using the BS-VI platform. DICV products come with eight-year warranty and a ten-year annual maintenance contract (AMC), he added. The trucks will thus have service intervals upto 20 per cent longer, thereby reducing the maintenance cost by up to 6 per cent.

DICV has invested Rs 500 crore to develop new facilities and over 1,000 new parts for BS-VI with a localisation of above 80 per cent.