Chennai, Feb 10 (IANS): Commercial vehicle maker Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) Tuesday said its bus plant is expected to start production at the end of second quarter this year.

In a statement issued here, the company, a wholly owned subsidiary of German group Daimler AG, said it has started exports of bus chassis to Egypt.

According to DICV, construction of the 50 million euro bus plant near here is progressing at a rapid pace.

"The company expects to begin producing Mercedes-Benz and BharatBenz buses at the plant at the end of the second quarter," the statement said.

"The plant will have an installed capacity of 1,500 vehicles per year in the initial phase, and can be expanded to 4,000 units subsequently. Once construction is completed, the facility in Oragadam (around 50 km from here) will be the first Daimler plant worldwide to produce trucks, buses, and engines for a total of three brands," it added.

Meanwhile, DICV has begun to export bus chassis to Egypt where the body would be built.

"The export of bus chassis from India to Egypt is yet another demonstration of how we are successfully leveraging on our global presence," Hartmut Schick, head of Daimler Buses was quoted as saying in the statement.