The German luxury car and truck manufacturer Daimler unveiled on Thursday its fifth truck brand, BharatBenz, which is aimed at the fast-developing Indian market.
The new range of trucks, a "combination of Daimlers DNA and Indias market know-how," will run from six to 49 tons and will be developed and built in India, Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche was quoted by a statement as saying.
Daimler, the world's leading maker of heavy trucks, expects the Indian market to double in size by 2020 and will invest 700 million euros ($945 million) to meet the growing demand, the statement said.
Production is to begin next year at a Daimler plant in Oragadam, near Chennai in southern India.
Asia is already the biggest market for Daimler Trucks, with 2010 sales of 127,000 vehicles.
Daimler already owns the Mitsubishi Fuso truck group, in addition to the Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and Western Star lines.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
