One of the world’s leading trucks and buses manufacturer, Daimler AG has announced that the production of its trucks sold under the Actros marquee will be carried on in the new plant inaugurated in Tamil Nadu. The inauguration of this new production plant at Oragadam in Tamil Nadu was headed by the TN Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa in presence of Dieter Zetsche, the Chairman at Daimler Board.
At present, the company produces the Actros trucks and Mercedes Benz buses at its plant in Pune, Maharashtra. The assembly of the Actros trucks will be commenced from this new plant at Tamil Nadu that has a production capacity of 36,000 units per annum and will be intended for exports to Africa and the ASEAN countries.
The newly established plant is planning to roll out over 18 variants of trucks with the capacity of 7-16 tonnes for the light duty trucks and over 25-49 tonnes for the heavy duty trucks. The 36,000 units’ capacity will be segregated into the production of 24,000 heavy duty trucks and 12,000 light duty trucks per year.
The company is also planning to relocate its Research & Development team to this new plant set up and has also revealed that it will be utilizing locally supplied components such as the engine and gear box to the extent of over 85 percent.
Daimler AG has stated that the plant will be utilizing its full capacity by 2014-15 and is endeavoring to capture a major market share in the Indian truck market giving a stiff competition to the segment leaders such as Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Eicher.
