Visiting auto comp. makers in Detroit • KSH works on unique model

At the heart of the Indian truck & bus industry

BharatBenz truck range revealed

Volume 6 Issue 7 • April 2012

` 100

Defence ExpoCombat ready!2012:

CV April12 Main Cover_Newsstand.1 1 4/4/2012 7:42:08 PM

We welcome feedback, bouquets and brickbats on how this magazine is shaping up. Now, visit us at www.commercialvehicle.in or write in to us

at cvonline@nextgenpublishing.net

YOUR VOICE

Straight DriveSridhar Chari 5

Letters 10

CV News 12Union Budget 2012-13 : Implications for CV industrySP Singh says that an increase in excise and service taxes and an incentive for fully-built vehicles are the most defining characteristics. 36Auto MSMEs: fast forward neededThe MSME Summit hosted by ACMA sought to address pressing issues confronting the sector. 40KSH to double tractor-trailer fleet Here is a neat snapshot of KSH’s management of twin fleets, individually attached to the ICD and 3PL businesses. 64

SIAM Data 94

Mercedes-Benz launches city busPredictably, the bus is positioned at the top end of the market. 38

BharatBenz range premieres!DICV wants its trucks to be relevant to the mass market, while offering more bang for the buck. 68

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WHAT’S INSIDE

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72IAC: Inside storyGlobally as in India, the company derives huge competitive advantage from its extensive R&D capabilities.

Cover StoryDefence Expo 2012: Combat Ready

WHAT’S INSIDE

Tata Motors displays large arsenal

Ashok Leyland launches 8x8 Super Stallion

AMW unveils defence range

Mahindra inks MoU with Rafael

Renault Trucks Defense showcases Sherpa Light Scout

Ordnance Factory Board unveils MPV MK-III

BEML displays 8x8 Tatra truck

Paracoat puts out PCP Terra Home-Car

Allison inside!

Meritor showcases HMIS axles

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76PPG: Colours of innovationPPG is strengthening is presence in India with fresh investments and a large palette of products.

84BorgWarner TTS: Intelligence in motionYou would not expect to see monster pickups and AWDs featured in this magazine. But, we had to make an exception this time.

90CAR explores use of alternate materialsThere are no real alternatives to steel. But the use of alternate materials is expected to progressively rise.

Special reports from Detroit and India

APRIL 2012 / COMMERCIAL VEHICLE 9

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36 CommerCial VehiCle / april 2012

Union Budget 2012-13:

The most notable impact of the Union Budget is the withdrawal of the fiscal stimulus of 2008-09, resulting in a hike in basic

excise duty on CVs to 12 percent from the current 10 percent. The other important and positive change is the switch to ad

valorem rate of excise duty from the present specific rate. Now truck chassis shall attract an ad valorem duty of 12 + 3 percent this will be in contrast to a 12 percent duty on fully built vehicles.

Until now, body building was exempt from excise duty. And, only a specific

sum of Rs 10,000 was charged in addition to excise duty charged on the chassis. Obviously the change in the excise duty structure offers an incentive to develop fully built trucks and buses. The combined impact of these moves is that the price of fully built light commercial

CritiCal eye s.p.singh

author S.P.Singh Senior Fellow, iFtrt

implications for the CV market

an increase in excise and service taxes and an incentive for fully-built vehicles are the most

defining characteristics.

12 CV_April12_Column_SP Singh.in36 36 4/5/2012 1:26:18 AM

april 2012 / CommerCial VehiCle 37

s.p.singh / CritiCal eye

vehicles will go up by Rs.12,000-15,000, intermediate commercial vehicles by Rs. 20,000- 25,000, medium commercial vehicles by Rs.28,000-.35,000, multi-axle vehicles by Rs.37,000-45,000 and multi-axle trailers by Rs. 40,000-50,000. The direct impact on the chassis plus body building model shall add at least Rs.20,000 for LCVs, Rs.28,000 - 30,000 for ICVs, Rs. 45,000 - 50,000 for MCVs and Rs.60,000- 65,000 for MAVs. It must be noted that over 80 percent of LCVs and ICVs are being sold as fully built, whereas in the case of MCVs/ MAVs, 90 percent of vehicles are being sold in the shape of cowl and chasis or cabin and chasis only.

So, the odds clearly favour fully built vehicles. Initially, this major change in excise duty rates may dislocate the sales rhythm of commercial vehicles that has continued for the last 12 quarters. But, we shall see long term positive results by way of better quality trucks and buses, which shall be safe and fuel saving. The increase in excise duty in the Union budget by 2 percent in the case of tyres and tubes shall make a pair of truck / bus tyres costlier by Rs.550-.600, light truck tyres by Rs.350 - 380, a SUVs tyre by Rs.75- 120 and hatchback tyres by Rs. 50-60. Over the last two years, tyre prices

have gone up by over 25-30 percent.

SerViCe tax on goodS tranSport by road and rail:The service tax on transportation of goods by road has been revised to 12 percent over the previous level of 10 percent. However the government has already given a 75 percent rebate on the levy of service tax on gross freight and therefore for all practical purposes the service tax on goods transport agency services has just gone up from 2.5 percent (75 percent of 10 percent rate) to 3 percent (75 percent of 12 percent rate). Over the last 11 quarters, truck freight rates have gone up by 35- 40 percent across the country. And the market has absorbed freight increases in this period. As such, a 0.5 percent increase in service tax on goods transported by road shall be absorbed in the present buoyant market. It is expected that in the interest of uniformity and equity, rail freight too shall be brought at par with road during the next fiscal in terms of service tax. Already in the first week of March 2012, rail freight has been raised by 15-20 percent. In October 2011 too, rail freight was revised upwards by the railways. This only confirms that if freight hike can be passed on to consignors, so can service tax

on rail freight.

Fuel priCe-dieSel SubSidy: By way of freight increases, goods transport operators have been able to pass on regular increase in the capital cost of trucks, auto finance, tyre prices, toll, motor insurance premium, road tax/permit fee and manpower costs. These fixed and variable inputs of road transport are under no price regulation or intervention. Than, why should diesel prices be regulated and subsidised? It is high time that diesel prices be deregulated, though in a phased manner. Road transporters who are otherwise quite capable of dealing with increases in costs should not be unduly protected in the name of checking inflation.

The Financial Bill 2012 incentivises fully built vehicles rather than trucks whose bodies are built externally. its not just CVs. The excise duty on tyres has also been raised by 2 percent.

On account of the excise duty hike, the price of fully built light commercial vehicles will go up by rs 12,000-15,000.

12 CV_April12_Column_SP Singh.in37 37 4/5/2012 1:26:41 AM

Mercedes-Benz launches city bus

Predictably, the bus is positioned at the top end of the market.

After selling 150 nos. of 2-axle and the 3-axle luxury intercity coaches, Daimler Buses has now unveiled its fi rst city bus

for the Indian market-the Mercedes Benz C125RLE low-entry. At Rs 90 lakh, the bus is priced at the very top of the Indian market, even above the corresponding Volvo Bus offering, which Markus Villinger, Head (designate) of Daimler Buses India says is well in line with the total cost of ownership over a 15-20 year period. The specifi cations of the bus are some indicator to this confi dence.

Mounted on the tried and tested O500 U 1826 LE chassis, the 12m low-fl oor

Story and PhotographyShubham Sinha

(350mm) bus is powered by the 252HP, 7.2 litre, 6-cylinder OM926 diesel engine equipped with a turbo-charger and intercooler. The engine which can put out peak torque of 900Nm has been especially designed to give maximum fuel-effi ciency amid start-stop city operations. The bus comes with an automatic transmission which has been optimised for better gear shifts. The driveline not only helps in better fuel effi ciency but also improves driver comfort. The bus has an inbuilt hydronamic retarder to augment its ABS equipped, dual circuit disc brakes. The ride is made comfortable by the ‘banana’ shaped full air suspensions with 4+2 From L-R Srinivas Chilukuri (GM Bus sales India ), Karim

Ghabbour (Founder and MD, MCV) , Hartmut Schick (Head of Daimler Buses ), Markus Villinger (Head of Daimler Buses, India), Peter Honegg (CEO&M.D Mercedes Benz India Ltd.) and Maged Rasmy(MD, MCV India)

38 COMMERCIAL VEHICLE / APRIL 2012

ROYAL RIDE MERCEDES BENZ

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Engine position Rear engine

Bus category Low entry

Engine model OM 926 LA

Emission level BS IV

Horse power 252 hp @ 2200 RPM

Torque 900 Nm @ 1200-1600 RPM

Cylinder 6 cylinders, vertical in-line, turbo charged and inter cooled

Displacement 7200 cc

Gearbox Automatic gearbox

Retarder Inbuilt hydrodynamic retarder

Brakes Disk brakes, dual circuit, full air system with ABS

Fuel tank 280 litres steel tank

Suspension front axle Air suspension, 2 air bellows, 2 telescopic shock absorbers

Suspension rear axle Air suspension, 4 air bellows, 4 telescopic shock absorbers & stabilizer

Tyre size rear axle 315/70R22.5

Kneeling facility Available

Wheels Drop center wheel 8.25-22,5 and tyre 295/80R 22,5 PR16

DIMENSIONS IN MM (+/- 10 MM)

Total length 12000

Width 2550

Wheelbase 5950

Floor height in front 350

AXLE LOADS

GVW 16200 kg

FAW 6000 kg

RAW 10200 kg

Specifications MB C125RLE

continue as currently alliance, and that the pact with MCV is dedicated to city buses. Since 1995, MCV, Daimler Buses’ principal partner for city bus worldwide has built over 15,000 bodies on the Mercedes Benz chassis. MCV founder and MD Karim Ghabbour went on to reveal that the company aims for 100 percent localisation of the body in the near future. ‘We are working with local suppliers in order to localise parts. As of now, FRP, air conditioning system, seats have been localised among other components/aggregates.’ Presently about 60 percent of the bus has been localised.Villinger informs us that Mercedes Benz is also ready with the CNG version of the bus, which shall be offered ‘as and when customers demand it’. In sum Daimler seems to have laid a strong foundation towards garnering a larger share of the Indian bus market, which is expected to account for 20 percent of the global market by 2020. But, the bid for a larger pie of the bus market does not entail an

immediate foray into front-engined bus segment. Villinger asserts that the rear-engined bus provides the best mix in terms of performance and passenger comfort. Karim Ghabbour offers the example of the Brazilian market. ‘Not too long ago, it was a completely front-engined city bus market. But now, more that 50 percent of the buses are rear-engined. This is a trend, we see panning out in India too. People will inevitably graduate towards comfortable public commutation.’

bellows. The bus with a seating capacity of 37, comes equipped with kneeling facility as also a manual ramp to aid wheel chair-bound passengers. The MB city bus happens to be the fi rst in the country to be certifi ed under the bus body code certifi cation. Another striking feature of the bus is its BlueTec technology which entails the use of selective catalytic reduction (SCR) to make the vehicle BS IV compliant and BSV ready.

Successful trials for the bus were carried out across Pune, Bangalore, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Mysore, Ahmedabad and Rajkot for a period ranging from 30-45 days before the offi cial launch of the vehicle.

The fully-built buses will roll out of Mercedes Benz’s Pune plant that has been built in association with Egyptian company MCV. The plant set up at an initial investment of Rs 90 crore has an annual capacity for 900 buses. At this juncture, it must be noted that Daimler’s pact with Sutlej for the coaches will

The Mercedes Benz City Bus features large windows for better visibility and plush seats with ample space for standing passengers.

Engineers weld the body on the city bus chassis on the automated Mercedes Benz’s ‘marry jig’ platform at the MCV plant.

39APRIL 2012 / COMMERCIAL VEHICLE

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