Premium German automaker, Mercedes Benz launched its low entry `City Bus' for the first time for the India Indian market on Friday.

The new buses were launched at the company's Chakan plant in Pune after the company

Successfully conducted trials in seven cities in the country. The company had launched 2-axle and 3-axle coaches for intercity travel in 2008 and now the company is aiming to compete in the city bus segment.

Hartmut Schick, head of Daimler buses, while speaking at the event to launch the buses, pointed out that the company is the largest producer of low entry buses in the world and that the Indian market is the second largest in the world with 46,000 buses sold in 2011.

Schick said, "There is a huge potential for this market in India as the growth in population has continuousy increased the need to provide better transportation and mobility."

The City Bus will be priced at about Rs 90 lakh and will be manufactured at Chakan plant under a partnership agreement between Mercedes Benz India and MCV (Manufacturing Commercial Vehicles) of Egypt. The company is planning to invest about Rs 50 crore in the facility that will have an annual capacity of 900 buses, according to Schick.