Daimler India launches new facility

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, a unit of Germany’s Daimler AG, recently launched its truck-making facility at Oragadam near the Tamil Nadu capital of Chennai. The new plant will manufacture BharatBenz trucks and other commercial vehicles. Daimler said it has plans to launch as many as 17 truck models over the next 20 months and the focus will be mainly on the high-volume 7-49 ton market. The new models will be built at the company’s new 400-acre plant at Oragadam. Daimler expects to roll out three new truck models during the third quarter of this year. The company, which owns the Mercedes Benz brand, said that the new truck models will be made under a new brand called “BharatBenz.” Daimler said it will export the trucks to the SAARC countries, as well as Africa and West Asia. (April 19, 2012)