The market launch of the BharatBenz heavy-duty truck range with the internationally renowned 12-speed Automated Manual Transmission was announced by Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG, which secured the first order of 80 units of 3532CM mining tippers to a single customer.
Named as ‘Torqshift’ for the BharatBenz range, the 12-speed Automated Manual Transmission has earned its stripes globally in hundreds of thousands of Mercedes-Benz trucks. Known for making driving easy, the transmission will be available in the latest BharatBenz models including the 4032T, 5532TS, 5532T, 2832CM, and the flagship model 3532CM.
The Torqshift range offers superior driving comfort with its smooth, jerk-free gear shifting, and significantly faster shift times, enhancing the vehicle’s drivability. The integration of the shift lever into the steering column also improves the ergonomics within the cabin and contributes to better isolation of noise and heat, ensuring a more comfortable drive.
The Torqshift’s fuel-efficient design, optimized for specific operational conditions, helps lower the total cost of ownership for customers. Safety is also a key feature, with powertrain protection systems controlled by software that reduce the chance of driveline component damage in demanding operating conditions.
“Heavy-duty Construction and Mining (CM) trucks are one of our strengths and we have considerable presence in this space. With the new 12-speed AMT in our CM portfolio, the customers will see a significant benefit in productivity improvement in their operations and notable savings as the overall fleet efficiency will go up. The deliveries for the 3532CM BharatBenz Torqshift trucks have started and vehicles are already being deployed in operations. We will offer AMT in Tractor Trailers (TT) as well, which will not only enhance the productivity of the vehicles, but play a critical role in improving road safety as well. This is a segment we foresee growing steadily and with road infrastructure rapidly shaping up, BharatBenz Torqshift range will add a lot of value to our long-haul logistics customers. Our AMT technology, adapted from Mercedes-Benz trucks, delivers consistently on the total cost of ownership equation. It is ideally engineered to suit Indian conditions to offer incredible value through our Mining Tippers, Surface Tippers and Tractor Trailers.” Said Mr. Sreeram Venkateswaran, President and Chief Business Officer.
With a greater range of gear ratios and a higher input torque capacity, the Torqshift range of BharatBenz trucks is designed to meet the heavy-duty demands of the Indian mining and construction industries as well as long-haul transportation. This makes the trucks perfect for transporting gross combination weights (GCW) ranging from 28 to 55 tonnes. Alongside this strong performance is a novel design that does away with synchromesh components, increasing dependability and lowering the frequency of overhauls.
“The 12-speed AMT is a big triumph for us at India Product Engineering as we achieved our goal to introduce this transmission in our BharatBenz portfolio after meticulous planning and adaptive engineering, ensuring minimal cost of development. A global technology like the Mercedes-Benz AMT, seamlessly integrated in our BharatBenz Torqshift range of trucks, keeps in mind our customers’ needs in the market. This technology is designed to reduce driving stress and to ensure a faster turnaround with significantly higher fuel efficiency. Torqshift is engineered to minimize maintenance, significantly improving the total cost of ownership for our customers. This aligns perfectly with our intent to deliver not only well-engineered and safe products, but also ones that add tremendous value to our customers’ businesses.” Said Mr. Pradeep Kumar Thimmaiyan, President and Chief Technology Officer, Daimler India Commercial.
Overall, the introduction of the Torqshift range in the BharatBenz portfolio is expected to provide significant benefits in productivity improvement, fuel efficiency, and total cost of ownership for customers in the construction and mining segments.
