Hinduja group company Ashok Leyland expects to launch the light commercial vehicle (LCV) 'Dost' across India in next six-seven months. The company on Wednesday launched Dost in Maharashtra after having already launched in the Southern states.
Dost is the first product to come out from the Ashok Leyland joint venture with Japan’s Nissan. It is a late entrant in the segment already dominated by the likes of Tata Motors ’s Ace and Super Ace and Mahindra and Mahindra ’s Maxi Truck. Ashok Leyland is bullish on the segment as the LCV market in India grew at 19% CAGR last year and is expected to grow at 15% CAGR over 2011-15.
Dost has a payload capacity of 1.25 ton and that will help it succeed, the company feels. It will be initially manufactured in the Ashok Leyland’s plant at Hosur in south India. It is priced in the range of Rs 3.79 lakh to 4.37 lakh ex-showroom Mumbai.
V Sumantran, executive vice chairman, Hinduja Automotive said, the company will have initial production capacity of 55,000 units per year for Dost at Hosur and it expects to sell a similar number in the first year of its launch.
Ashok Leyland is setting up a new chain of dealers for LCVs across India and hopes to have 60 dealers by end of March, 2012.
Ashok Leyland and Nissan have invested Rs 1,200 crore so far for the development of the LCV platform and a mini van platform. It plans to launch a mini van in the next 12-15 months. Further, the joint venture will also develop a platform to make trucks and buses on the Nissan Atlas range.
The company hopes to have all the three platforms in place by 2015 and further product development will be decided later, said Nitin Seth, executive director, LCV, Ashok Leyland.
Ashok Leyland is developing a new greenfield plant at Sriperambudur near Chennai. Currently the boundary wall is in place and the plant should come up in next two or three years, Seth said.
Presently, Dost will be available as a goods carrier and the company also plans to launch its passenger version in the future.
Ashok Leyland shares were Wednesday traded up 0.8% at Rs 26.45 on NSE.
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