Will Bharat take to the Benz and say ?OK Tata? to the trucks they have been buying so far?

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) must be hoping for just that, as they seek to loosen the stranglehold of Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland on the Indian commercial vehicle market. New entrants together have only 20% share of this market. DICV is making all efforts to make a dent in the mass market product ? the 6-to-49-tonne CV segment in India. This segment sells 3.5 lakh trucks a year and to be a serious player in the market, the company has to capture a share in the mass market.

So, Daimler is taking its machines to the roadside dhabas so that it can show them off to the truck drivers with all the new things on offer.

The idea is that these drivers can then influence the vehicle and fleet owners to make the switch. At a time when getting good drivers is becoming a problem, the owner is more likely to take the driver’s gentle suggestions more kindly. Small changes in the truck cabin has impressed the truck drivers, who get to touch and feel the product during their lunch and dinner breaks at the Dhaba.

The volunteers traveling with the six trucks says the blowers in the cabin, the little ?god tray? on the dashboard, double co-driver seat, extra width of the berth for sleeping, a locker underneath the seat and ease of entering and getting out of the truck, multiple seating positions and a tilting steering, make an instant connect with the drivers. There is also mileage on display with advisory on the best speeds to drive at depending on conditions.

Apart from 100 dhabas, the Daimler trucks are also going to the 19 Transport Nagars, along the Golden Quadrilateral, and touching base with truck owners as part of the 8,000-km BharatBenz Power Yatra. For the owners, the Bharat Benz is being positioned as a fuel-efficient machine with lower total life cycle cost and an offer of first servicing after 50,000 km.

Instead of rotary pumps, the engines use unit pumps that is better at dealing with adulterated fuel. ?So much has gone into these products that it is very different from the original platform we had decided to bring?, says V R V Sriprasad, VP, marketing & sales and after sales, DICV.

Unconventionally, the company also first opened its test track and has been testing prototypes since 2010. We have tested the truck for 50,00,000 km as testing is non-compromisable for Daimler even if it means taking some more months before releasing the trucks into the market, says Sriprasad.

The market is already appreciating this. ?For long, the automotive industry has used us as guinea pigs and have dumped vehicles on us and testing them at our cost,? says Gaurav Ghatge, the dealer for Bharat Benz for Pune. Ghatge says this was a fresh approach and a sea of change from their earlier experience.

Daimler is putting their money where their mouth is and Ghatge hopes with this kind of competition coming in, older players, such as Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, too, will raise the bar.

All the automotive OEMs need to give the transport industry their due which had not been happening, says Ghatge. He will be the dealer for Bharat Benz in Pune, Kolhapur, Solapur and Dhule.

Ghatge is also a fleet owner (part of the Ghatge Patil Transport of Kolhapur, which owns close to 400 truck) and buys around 40 to 50 trucks a year to replenish the old stock. The company has already tried out the Hino Trucks from Toyota and will be looking at Bharat Benz, too, for upgrading their fleet.

For Daimler, this has been a six-year journey. The India strategy started at Daimler Trucks in 2006 and it took 77 months from concept to plant stage and the first launch takes place only in the third quarter of 2012 and the full product roll out (17 models) will happen over 18 months.

For the HCV market, DICV will be using the Mercedes Benz Axor platform and for the LCV segment, it will the Fuso Canter platform. Mitsubishi Fuso is a 10-year-old acquisition of Daimler. Starting with an entirely new brand, never done in any other country, Daimler opted for creating an India-specific brand, Bharat Benz to denote that the truck is especially made for India, but with Benz in its DNA. Will Bharat respond to Benz will be seen in the coming months.