Kamaz To Enter Premiere League

Kamaz is fast expanding its product range to enter new segments.

- Bhushan Mhapralkar

At Naberezhnye Chelny, the Kamaz manufacturing complex gives the impression of being a city within a city. Large chimney’s loom into the distance as a network of wide roads criss cross. With a capacity to make 71,000 vehicles per year, Kamaz, commanding a 56 per cent market share in 2016, in the segments above 14-tonnes, is the number-one truck company in Russia. It has over 40 models and 1500 vehicle configurations. A Dakar​​ rally winner for 14 times, Kamaz has a strong dealer network of 200 dealers. Placed 16th among the world’s heavy-duty truck producers in 2016, Kamaz is keen to enter the premier truck league. The company unveiled a new K5 truck cab (see box) recently. To be built in association with Daimler at a new cab plant at Naberezhnye Chelny from early 2019, the K5 truck cab hints at the company’s aspiration to enter the premium heavy truck segment in Russia, which is currently dominated by the Big-Seven European manufacturers like Volvo, Scania, Mercedes-Benz and others.