Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), the Indian branch of the German Daimler AG, started the year 2021 with a significant increase in sales of its BharatBenz trucks and an increase in market share in the medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment (M & HCV trucks) in January. March quarter.
Industry growth
When the M&HCV segment showed signs of recovery from the September 2020 quarter with the resumption of construction and infrastructure activities, most of the players saw positive growth in truck sales. The M&HCV market doubled its domestic volume (trucks) from January to March 2021 to 75,790 units (excluding BharatBenz) compared to 37,730 units in the same quarter of the previous year when the industry was in a sluggish phase.
In line with the M & HCV growth, DICV recorded an 85 percent increase in BharatBenz truck sales in the first quarter of 2021 to 4,507 units on the domestic market compared to 2,439 units in the first quarter of 2020, as Daimler AG announced in Germany on Friday.
The company increased its market share to 7 percent in the quarter, after 6.4 percent in the same quarter of the previous year in the aforementioned 9-ton truck market.
Satyakam Arya, General Manager and CEO of DICV, said that the value that BharatBenz trucks offer has been confirmed by the increased customer confidence in the brand, allowing the company to outperform the market even in the difficult conditions of 2020.
Revitalizing Demand
Due to the recovery in demand and sales momentum, DICV launched a new range of trucks and buses in January to fill the gaps in its portfolio with a realigned product strategy.
While the company’s backlog is healthy, and sales momentum is expected to be maintained due to improved road construction and the revival of mining operations, the second wave of pandemics is expected to be a spoilsport for the M&HCV industry.
“We assume that the quarter from April to June will decrease by around 20 percent compared to the quarter from January to March 2021, as the lockdown of Covid-19 leads to delays in construction activity and industrial production. For the quarter from July to September, we estimate that demand will pick up and be 15 to 17 percent higher than in the quarter from April to June 2021, ”says Paritosh Gupta, research analyst for medium and heavy commercial vehicle forecasts at IHS Markit.
