DICV begins production of LHD Fuso trucks

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles has rolled out its first left-hand drive (LHD) Fuso trucks for the export markets from its facility at Oragadam, near Chennai. The first heavy-duty truck - the FUSO FJ (equivalent to a 2528C), will first be launched in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Egypt, and in the mid-term will be rolled out in markets in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.

With this, Daimler Trucks Asia has beefs up its portfolio of new Fuso offerings for the non-Asian markets as well. A variant of the new DICV-made FUSO LHD will be showcased at the upcoming IAA Hannover show in September 2014.

As part of the first wave of export markets, DICV-made Fuso trucks have already exported to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Brunei. According to Daimler, the Fuso trucks have been well received by customers thanks to a strong distribution and service network. DICV will also start manufacturing medium-duty Fuso LHD vehicles later this year.

With a clear view to leveraging its potential in Asia and Africa and beyond (and acknowledging the importance of Asian markets), Daimler Trucks Asia expects to gain additional growth momentum in the future markets on top of the current existing markets from its new Asia Business Model that it unveiled in 2013. This model aims to create synergies by pooling the strengths of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp (MFTBC) and DICV under the larger umbrella of Daimler Trucks Asia.

The new business model is targeted to double the company’s sales (MFTBC and DICV combined) to over 290,000 units by 2020. Daimler Trucks has an overall sales target of over 500,000 units sold in 2015 and more than 700,000 trucks in 2020.

DICV, India’s youngest truck manufacturer, says it has sold over 10,000 BharatBenz trucks in the Indian market since it began operations here a little over a year ago.