Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) has hit a production milestone of 1,500 BS-VI vehicles, the company said in a statement. Two-thirds of this production was accounted for by a thousand BS-VI-compliant heavy-duty trucks, the latest of which rolled off the company’s lines today. The truck was a Bharat Benz 3523R model, which was dispatched to one of Bharat Benz’s 235 dealerships across the country.

“Since premiering our new Bharat Benz portfolio of BS-VI-compliant trucks and buses in January, we have been steadily increasing our lead in the industry,” said Rajaram Krishnamurthy, Vice President, Marketing and Sales at DICV.

Since the lockdown, Daimler has seen only partial operations at its Chennai plant owing to ongoing restrictions on employee strength under the Tamil Nadu Government’s social distancing norms. The company has passed the milestone of 1,500 BS-VI vehicles despite two stoppages owing to twin lockdowns in Chennai and its surrounding districts.

If the lockdown was one problem, depressed consumer appetite was another. “MHCVs suffered a 40 percent de-growth last year, so demand generation will be major challenge, now. In our estimate, the MHCV market could contract 50 by 60 percent from 2019 levels,” said Satyakam Arya, MD and CEO of DICV, in an exclusive chat with CNBC-TV18 last month.

“We are looking at volumes we had in 2009-2010, which is a major setback,” he added, “The best case from here is one where we could see demand back in 2021 and up by 15-20 percent from the low levels of 2020.”

As of May 30, the company had been running operations at the plant only with 30 percent of factory workers on the floor, despite state government guidelines allowing for 50 percent.

However, Daimler said its business continuity has so far not been affected owing to 80 percent localization in BS-VI components. Daimler’s Bharat Benz brand has rolled out several benefits to customers during the time of the lockdown, including free vehicle and sanitization checks, and extension of warranty.