Friday, June 23 2006 18:02 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Pune: Leading truck-maker Daimler-Chrysler Friday announced its foray in the Indian commercial vehicles market with the launch of its heavy-duty vehicle Actros here.



Available in two variants Actros 4040K and Actros 4840K - the robustly built trucks with 12-litre engines will mainly be aimed at tapping the Indian mining sector and be available at Rs.5.5 million and Rs.6.5 million respectively.



"India is a promising market for us. We pioneered the luxury car segment in this country and now look forward to establish ourselves in this niche market," said Wilfried Aulbur, chief executive officer and managing director, Daimler-Chrysler India.

Speaking at the launch of the trucks at the company's plant here, Aulbur said the focus would be on the mining segment and localised and specialised areas of operations.



"The trucks will be directly sold to the customers to begin with and later on perhaps we will look at other modes of marketing," Aulbur said.

According to Gert Nissler, company director (commercial vehicles), the vehicles, with 16 gears and two reverse gears, have several additional features compared to their foreign counterparts as the mining conditions here are much more difficult.

Some of the other countries where the vehicle is being currently sold particularly in the mining sector are Indonesia, Germany, Australia, and South Africa.

According to Aulbur the Indian market size for the tipper trucks segment is around 1,800 units while that for the heavy transport vehicles was around 85,000 units.

Available as completely built imported chassis the Actros 'Telligent' engine boasts of an output of 400 horsepower at a rpm as low as 1,800, making it the most powerful engine across the tipper segment in the country.

Asked whether the vehicles were slightly overpriced for the Indian market, Aulbur told sources, "The prices compare very comparably to our various competitors. You're getting 33 percent more power than the usual truck in the segment. You're getting benchmark fuel efficiency, very low maintenance cost. "Commercial vehicles business basically looks for cost per kilometre. If your vehicle offers customers economy, then you have done it. And we believe that our vehicles do just that," he said.



"There will be customers who would make that initial investment and recoup that investment through subsequent savings," he said.