Mercedes Benz forays into fully-built city bus segment

NEW DELHI: After the recent tie-up with Jalandhar-based (Punjab) company Sutlej Motors for building bodies for its inter-city buses, Mercedes Benz India will be setting up a facility within its premises at Chakan, near Pune in Maharashtra to build the body for its range of intra-city buses that will be launched in the third quarter of 2011. The company plans to set-up a dedicated assembly line that will cater to the production requirements of the city buses as well as the already available 2-axle and 3-axle inter-city luxury coaches. Mercedes-Benz also indicated their plan to offer integrated body-building facility for the city buses housed out of their present premises at Pune. While Sutlej would be building bodies for the company's inter-city buses, the company will go with Egypt-based MCV for its city buses. The company is the body building partner for the majority of Daimler buses worldwide. A product clinic with two Mercedes Benz buses, one with a low floor and the other with a semi-low floor, will start later this month.