BharatBenz has been among the most successful manufacturers in the mining truck segment.

– Rajaram Krishnamurthy

Vice President – Marketing, Sales and Customer Service, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles 

What are the market dynamics (demand-supply) for Heavy Duty (HD) trucks and tippers in the Construction Equipment (CE) space?

We are witnessing a strong recovery in the entire CV industry, fueled by government measures to reboot the economy. Construction activities, especially affordable housing, and de-regulation of the mining sector, and proactive private participation in reviving demand for the tippers segment. We are also seeing demand revival from the long-haul sectors like cement and steel.

We expect the heavy truck market in India to grow by more than 60% in 2021, followed by 30-40% growth in 2022 before stabilizing to 15-20% growth in 2023 and 2024. The market is on the recovery path after three down-cycles in the last 10 years.

What are the technological trends in the trucks and tipper segment both for surface transportation of aggregates, road construction, infrastructure projects, port transportation as well as for working in quarries?

BharatBenz has been among the most successful manufacturers in the mining truck segment with its range of Tipper trucks that are designed to suit every possible need of the industry.

Among the best of the BharatBenz Tipper trucks for the mining industry is the 3528CM tipper truck. The 3528CM comes with the BS 6 OM 926 engine with SCR technology and gets a 6-cylinder arrangement and a displacement of 7200cc. The peak torque of this tipper truck is at 1100 Nm @ 1200 – 1600 rpm. It gets a G131 9 speed gearbox along with a 430mm single dry plate clutch with hydraulic control and a clutch booster. It has the most advanced pneumatic foot operated braking system with dual line ABS and pneumatically operated hand control valve for the parking breaks.

The Gross Vehicle Weight is 35000kg. It has a 23 Cu.M tipper box and an 18 Cu.M scoop body. The ground clearance is 359mm and with a wheelbase of 5175mm. The 3528CM has a 180 -liter fuel tank and an additional 43-liter tank for AdBlue. BharatBenz tipper trucks are preferred in this segment due to fully loaded features offered like, comfortable cabin, gear shift advisory, reverse camera display, best-in-class suspension, 2-stage differential lock, static steering, and driver state monitoring system that aims to avoid dangerous situations of drivers falling asleep or otherwise being distracted at the wheel.

Telematics is one technology that is certainly reshaping the trucking industry and BharatBenz’s ‘Truckonnect’ is an excellent example of this. A telematics solution based on Daimler’s global platform ‘Truckonnect’ is provided as a standard feature in all BharatBenz trucks. Truckonnect lets customers remotely monitor all key performance indicators including utilization, fuel and Adblue consumption, fleet health, and driver behavior. With this, fleet managers can optimize driver performance, increase fuel efficiency, and reduce downtime. We will continue to introduce customer-centric technology features to elevate the experience of our customers.

The new emission norms have come into effect, impacting transportation businesses in myriad ways. How has your company responded to this in terms of engine design, newer components to new fluids, and additives?

Based on insights into usage patterns across India, we have built-in several features into our trucks that provide a class-leading performance. The BharatBenz trucks are equipped with engines designed for higher efficiency and longer life, which also give maximum power with optimal consumption to enable our customers to maximize their revenues. Faster turnaround time and more trips in a year are direct results of more power.

What kinds of after-sales support initiatives have been embraced by you to maintain customer satisfaction and brand value?

After-sales support is an important piece of the overall business chain and needs a dedicated strategy. We have been implementing digital initiatives across the interface of customer interactions from servicing, to sales, to products, for quite some time now. The advent of COVID has accelerated the acceptance of digitization across the entire auto value chain. Over the years, DICV has cultivated a loyal community base of customers who trust BharatBenz products right from the moment they take ownership of the routine services and repairs.

An example of our customer-centric service is the very popular ‘Proserv’ app, which is a digital platform for providing customer service. The Proserv application, enabled with 65+ features such as advanced booking, parts ordering, renewal of contracts, extended warranty, insurance, fleet maintenance, 24x 7 RSA, and integration with all types of online payment options, brings all customers’ needs at their fingertips. We have also equipped our sales staff with ‘Empower 2.0’, a digital tool that gives them important product and sales information they need at their fingertips via a tablet. This helps in quickly answer customer enquiries as well as calculates quotes and TCO.

What do you think are the challenges, risk factors, and possible new avenues in the HD truck and tipper’s segment?

We strongly believe the challenges we are seeing lately are short to medium-term challenges and India offers huge growth potential. The supply chain continues to be a challenge and from here on matching, demand with supply would be the main purpose. However, the demand is coming back and recovery from the second wave has been much better than the first one. This year the market will be a lot better than in 2020. We could come near the peak sales in 2023.

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