DAIMLER BUSES The ‘Glocal' Approach

“There is no one size that fits all. The world is not alike all over, so we have to adapt to the local necessities of the markets and regions we work with. From my point of view, as a bus maker, it is always about packaging – with right products, solutions, and services – and listening to our customers”, says Till Oberwörder, Head of Daimler Buses, in a brief candid interaction with Dhiyanesh Ravichandran.

- Dhiyanesh Ravichandran.

Europe is home to Daimler Buses. How significant and foretelling is the region to your company in terms of its evolution in buses over the years?

The world is constantly changing. So are the bus industry. In Europe, the public is very much in favour of public transport, which is very helpful for the segment overall. More and more people are moving towards cities and living in one. The focus is on sustainable city life. How can electrified vehicles, and buses, in particular, can contribute towards that? Thus, the city needs are driving new technologies in our industry very much in Europe.

On the other side of the spectrum are the coaches, where the evolution of efficient Euro 6 engine technologies dominating the scene. This segment is also more about individualisation of products, wherein ‘there is no such thing as second identical coach’! Buses are individualised to suit the custom needs of our customers. There is a huge scope for innovation and growth in this space as well.

Electric mobility is the talk of the town and is predominantly taking over the bus industry. Where is Daimler placed in this development, what is the progress so far and what more can we expect?

When we came up with eCitaro in 2018, we always wanted to have an electrified product that is coming out of the normal production line, and not a ‘project’. It is built like every other Citaro models powered by either diesel, gas, or hybrid powertrains on the same production line. I think that’s important because, as a bus maker, we can address the diverse demands of our end customers identically.