Daimler Buses Making Steady Progress In Indian Market

Launches new 2441 luxury coach, hopes to maintain robust growth

- N. Balasubramanian

Daimler Buses India, a unit of the €4.4 bn Daimler Buses under the umbrella of Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), is stepping up its presence in the Indian bus market after a successful 2017. The company has also upgraded its flagship product with the introduction of the Mercedes-Benz 2441 Super High Deck (SHD) 15 m long-distance coach that replaces its 2436 SHD coach, 75 units of which were sold during the year it was available for sale.

Back in mid-2014, Daimler had laid the foundation stone for its new bus plant at Oragadam near Chennai. A year later, the plant was inaugurated along with a showcase of the full range of BharatBenz and Mercedes-Benz buses. The first batch of buses was soon rolled out with deliveries commencing towards the end of 2015.

Market pull

Making steady and sustainable progress, Daimler Buses India has sold a total of 906 units in 2017, an 80 per cent jump from the 501 units it had sold in 2016. Though the numbers appear a lot smaller than the country’s annual bus market size – estimated to be around 40,000 units in FY18 – the figures reflect growing acceptance for BharatBenz buses in the 9 and 16 ton segments. The 80 per cent jump seems all the more impressive given the overall domestic bus market saw a significant drop in volume during the year.

The Indian bus market size was at around 20,000 units in 2002, growing at a healthy average rate of close to nine per cent YoY, doubling to around 40,000 units by 2017. Long-term projections indicate the market to reach somewhere between 50,000 and 60,000 units annually over the next few years. This is what makes the Indian bus market a very interesting one for Daimler, more so since most other global markets are either declining, saturated and hence flat or growing at a very slow pace.