Daimler to set up plant near Chennai to produce trucks

Chennai, March 18 : Daimler Commercial Vehicle India Ltd Thursday said it will set up a plant near here to produce commercial vehicles.

The company would invest Rs.4,400 crore over the next five years to manufacture light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles, said Marc Llistosella, chief executive of the company, after inaugurating a truck testing facility of the firm.

The plant will have an initial production capacity of 36,000 units in the first phase, which will be raised to 75,000 units, he said.

Llistosella also said Daimler was looking for partners for the project and could consider a joint venture. But the partner should be someone who would add value to the venture, he added.

Daimler earlier had a plan with the Hero group to set up a similar plant that did not take off.