Daimler close to truck joint venture in India
By Our Corporate Bureau | 20 Oct 2007
Mumbai: German automaker Daimler AG is close to announcing a joint venture with in India for manufacturing trucks for the local market.
"In India, we are very close to an announcement," Andreas Renschler, a member of the Daimler board, said at an event to launch a new heavy-duty diesel engine. "We have found a partner."
He said the automaker would save 600 million euros from a global engine platform for its heavy-duty trucks, once the system is fully implemented.
Daimler is planning to expand its commercial vehicle division in India and Russia.
Daimler already sells a small number of its Actros heavy lorry in India, spokeswoman Julia Kroeber-Riel said, and also planned to produce so-called CKD versions of the vehicle in limited numbers later this year.
'Completely Knocked Down' production means the vehicle is built in Germany or Brazil, before being dismantled and rebuilt in India, she explained.
