Taking a ride

New Delhi, Aug. 27: The Indian unit of DaimlerChrysler AG is planning to launch luxury bus Viao, which can seat between eight and 10 people and is aimed at hoteliers and luxury fleet operators in the Indian market.

Suhas Kadlaskar, finance director at DaimlerChrysler's Indian unit, said Viao would be imported as a fully-built unit and targeted at customers in the tourism and travel trade. These foreign exchange earners are exempts from a 115 per cent customs duty.

Government regulations permit an export licence holder, which includes hoteliers and exporters, to pay only a 5 per cent duty on vehicle imports.

Globally, the Viao is priced at $40,000, which means it would cost between Rs 23-24 lakh after paying the 5 per cent duty. “We have tested the vehicle but are yet to decide on the time of the launch,” said Kadlaskar adding, “in all probability it would be introduced in the first half of 2005”.

As the model is priced more than $40,000, it would be exempted from the homologation test or road-worthiness certificate undertaken by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI).

Kadlaskar added that DaimlerChrysler would also introduce a 40-tonne multi-axle truck, Actros, as a fully-imported unit by the end of the year or early next year.

DaimlerChrysler, the world's biggest commercial vehicle manufacturer, has sold around 2.6 lakh units of Actros trucks and tractor trailers, ever since its global launch in 1996.

“By September, we would receive the certificate of homologation from the ARAI, after which we would show the model to potential customers,” he said. “So by the time we launch the vehicle, it would be December or January."

DaimlerChrysler India, which assembles the C, E and S-class Mercedes Benz sedans at a plant in Pune, is expected to report a revenue of Rs 500 crore in 2004 and a profit of about Rs 40 crore.