AL aggressively expanding export footprint

By R. Natarajan, Managing Editor & Publisher

Ashok Leyland, India’s second largest commercial vehicle manufacturers, is targeting new clusters around the globe to further boost its strong export sales in the coming years. The company registered a strong growth of 24 per cent in FY12, following its 72 per cent sales surge in FY11.

Currently about 15 per cent of its overall business comes from exporting a vast range of products to over 30 countries worldwide. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been AL’s most significant export markets, wherein the company currently holds a market share of 80 per cent in the former and 40 per cent in the latter.

Today, AL believes to look beyond these traditional foreign markets and consolidate its presence in new clusters like Africa, CIS, ASEAN, Latin America and Middle East. Mr. Antony Lobo, Special Director, International Operations, Ashok Leyland, spoke to MOTORINDIA in an exclusive chat about the company’s aggressive plans on the export front.

Having entered the African market two decades ago with a branch office at Johannesburg, South Africa and one at Kenya established last year, the Indian CV-maker is now exploring new opportunities in regions like Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Gabon. Recently, the company bagged its single largest order from the Ministry of Defence, Government of Tanzania for 723 vehicles for its logistics operations. The company’s state-of-the-art plant at Ras-Al-Khaimah, UAE is already running to full capacity, exporting around 220 buses every month to cater to the Middle East and African markets.

Mr. Antony Lobo said: “We recently exported 100 Falcon buses to Metro Mass Transit Ltd., the Government-run transport corporation in Ghana. Nigeria’s BRT scheme also runs on the Falcon, a 56-seater, left-hand drive, 180 Hp front engine bus built for robust city operation. Over 400 Falcon buses were supplied to cater to the mass Bus Rapid Transit Programme.” In the last couple of years, Ashok Leyland has supplied about 100 CKDs to Stallion Motors, its authorized dealer in Nigeria while Sterling Motors and OICL are the company’s other authorized distributors in the region.

The company is currently eyeing possibilities of spreading its local operations further in the African subcontinent and to set up branches through local partnerships. Next to Nigeria, Chile and Indonesia are the two locations which AL foresees as potential growth markets and is eyeing potential joint venture partners in the regions, for assembling and marketing vehicles built on its chassis.

AL recently bagged a line of credit from Bangladesh for 34 million US $ for 300 double decker buses, 50 vestibule buses and 100 single decker buses. In the ASEAN geography, the CV manufacturer is zeroing in on newer markets including Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand. In Singapore, the company’s Avia range is being shipped through a local dealership, Triangle Auto Pte Ltd., while in Indonesia it is working with Lion Air, an airline operator.

Having established a strong network with reliable local partners in the Soviet market – Ukraine and Russia, Ashok Leyland has successfully brought into these markets the 816 minibus, ‘winterized’ to meet the local weather conditions. AL are exporting these buses as SKD kits, which are then assembled and supplied in the local market. The company has a body building facility in Turkey that produces a number of variants on the 816 Eagle minibus model.

The buses from Optare Plc., the UK-based bus manufacturer in which AL holds a 75 per cent stake, are being supplied in Europe and South Africa. In Latin America, AL has been exporting around 150 vehicles every year in the form of SKDs and is currently scouting to enter locations such as, Bolivia, Colombia and the Andian region. In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is one of the other bigger markets for AL, where it supplies nearly 700 vehicles annually. The company is currently targeting markets like Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait to expand its global footprint.