German automaker Daimler plans to expand its commercial vehicle division in India and Russia, underpinning its position as the biggest heavy lorry manufacturer worldwide, a spokeswoman said on October 16.
Daimler has picked a partner for India after months of talks, the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper said, quoting board member Andreas Renschler.
"We are currently still negotiating contract clauses and will release details shortly," Renschler said.
Daimler already sells a small number of its Actros heavy lorry in India, spokeswoman Julia Kroeber-Riel told AFP, 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.
That would complement much larger production of the vehicle planned with Mercedes' Indian partner, which both Renschler and Kroeber-Riel declined to identify.
Daimler holds small stakes in two Indian lorry makers, Tata and Eicher. Renschler had also told the Financial Times Deutschland that Daimler planned to build a Mercedes truck in Russia. "We are discussing building a factory for truck assembly," Renschler told the newspaper.
"We will make a final decision by the end of this year." He said that in 2007, the group would again reach last year's record level of operating profit of 2.02 billion euros.
Daimler's five lorry brands, Mercedes, Mitsubishi Fuso, Freightliner, Western Star and Sterling sold 537,000 units last year for almost 32 billion euros, Kroeber-Riel said. "With these five brands we are the biggest truck manufacturer worldwide," she noted.