‘We Are Proud Of Having Created A Kind Of Revolution In The Indian Truck Industry'

Interview with Mr. RAJARAM KRISHNAMURTHY, Vice President - Marketing and Sales, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles

- N. Balasubramanian

What was the purpose behind the ‘Bharat Ka Benz’ Yatra? What was the response from different stakeholders such as fleet owners, drivers and your dealers to the 1 million km truck?

Even before we started selling our trucks in India in 2012, we had undertaken the ‘Power Yatra’ to showcase our products to customers across India. Last year, we covered the entire golden quadrilateral route on our trucks to celebrate five years of BharatBenz on the Indian roads. This year, the ‘Bharat Ka Benz’ Yatra was to showcase our millionaire kilometre truck to customers, drivers and dealers.

The response to the Yatra was fantastic. All the stakeholders, including our customers, dealers, drivers and our own team, were excited with the initiative. Right from day one, BharatBenz has been committed to transforming the trucking industry in India; since the proof of the pudding is in its eating, the fact that our trucks have completed 1 million km without a powertrain overhaul goes to show the quality and reliability of our products.

We have undertaken campaigns like ‘Pride of ownership’ and ‘Pride of driving’ in the past to promote our brand, and it is really encouraging to see that our customers and drivers are proud to be associated with BharatBenz.

The Yatra gave us an opportunity to connect with the existing and potential customers across the country, some of whom were astonished with the fact that one of our trucks has completed 10 lakh km in just five years.

Our dealers were delighted that they had taken the right decision by partnering with us six years ago and are now even more confident to take our products to customers. They were very receptive and used the Yatra as an opportunity to connect with the customers and get them back into discussions about BharatBenz.