Consent from the Indian partner is mandatory for companies to start operations on their own in the country where the demand to transport freight is growing.

"This is a common procedure necessary if a foreign company with an equity stake greater than 3 per cent in a domestic company would like to start its own operations," Wilfried Aulbur, chief executive of DaimlerChrysler India, said in a statement.

"DaimlerChrysler plans not only to import complete vehicles, but to assemble semi-knocked down Mercedes-Benz trucks in India in the near future," he said.

Daimler imports the Actros range of heavy trucks and is setting up a plant in Maharashtra with a capacity to make 5,000 luxury Mercedes cars a year.

The plant would also be used to make trucks, a spokesman said, adding that the range and capacity have not been finalised.

India''s bus and truck market, the world''s fifth-largest by volume, is growing quickly as better roads and a focus on infrastructure are boosting demand for transport of freight.

Global firms are keen for a share of the Indian commercial vehicle market, currently dominated by Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland Ltd.

Sweden''s Volvo is ramping up its capacity, while Germany''s MAN AG has a joint venture with Force Motors Ltd. for trucks and a unit of Navistar International has a deal with Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.

DaimlerChrysler cut a deal last month to sell 80.1 per cent of its stake in the money-losing US unit Chrysler to the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP. (See: Buyout firm Cerberus set to acquire Chrysler, say reports)

"The next years will be good," the Associated Press reported, citing company CEO Dieter Zetsche in an interview with the German daily Tagesspiegel.

"We are not thinking of a further product offensive with brand-new vehicles," he added. "We are well-placed in the breadth of our very young range of models and are now concentrating on becoming even better with the successors to individual models."

Zetsche also said Daimler now is more firmly in control of its own future.

"The risk of others exerting influence on the company, in an unwanted way, is now significantly smaller," he said.