Hannover (Germany): Bringing India to the core of Daimler Truck’s global business, Achim Puchert, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Trucks, on Monday announced the creation of ISEAA (India, Southeast Asia and Australia-Pacific), a new customer region covering 42 countries. It is the fourth region of Mercedes-Benz Trucks after Europe, LAMEA (Latin America, Middle East and Africa), and China.The new region will focus on markets across Southeast Asia and Australia-Pacific at a time when India has emerged as one of the fastest-growing commercial vehicle markets.Torsten Schmidt, CEO and managing director of Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV), will also serve as president of the Mercedes-Benz Trucks ISEAA customer region. The development comes amid DICV’s recent commitment to invest an additional Rs 4,000 crore in Tamil Nadu, taking its cumulative investment in India to more than Rs 14,500 crore.Its facility at Oragadam near Chennai is the only plant globally to produce BharatBenz, Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and FUSO trucks under one roof. In another move, BharatBenz, which serves customers in India through DICV, has been integrated with Mercedes-Benz Trucks.“We have strong roots in Europe and LAMEA, but we are also a global player. BharatBenz has been integrated with Mercedes-Benz Trucks. The new region, ISEAA, will basically cover the second half of the global south, with a clear task to support our customers,” Puchert told a group of visiting journalists from India at the IAA Transportation fair in Hannover.
Mercedes-Benz Trucks showcased its new products at the IAA Transportation 2026 in Hannover
“The Indian market is very cost- and price-competitive, and margins are thin with some margin pressures. In terms of absolute contribution, it is not comparable with LAMEA or Europe. But that doesn’t mean it is not important — rather, the opposite. The strong focus on cost and price competitiveness has created a highly competitive Indian supply landscape. That’s something I would like to utilise for the Mercedes-Benz Trucks group, so that we can leverage Indian sourcing opportunities for the benefit of the group,” he said in response to a query from TOI on why India was chosen to head the new region.Since commencing operations in 2012, DICV has exported more than 75,000 trucks and buses and over 330 million parts to more than 70 markets worldwide. It also supplies medium-duty transmissions from its Chennai facility to Daimler Truck plants in Germany.Schmidt said the new region offers significant growth opportunities for the company. “The region is expected to grow by more than 5% annually. Having India as an anchor in this region opens up a lot of opportunities. I think we can position India for India, ISEAA and the world. We want to build on the legacy of BharatBenz to further leverage it and take it to the next level in the future.”(This correspondent is in Hannover on the invitation of Daimler Truck)
