More vehicle variants underway
Sales of Ashok Leyland’s first light commercial vehicle DOST recently crossed the 5,000-unit mark. Buoyed by its strong performance, the company has ramped up production of the brand at its Hosur plant. Since its launch in October 2011, the brand has received healthy orders from customers. The consistent ramp-up in production reflects the company’s confidence in the performance of the vehicle which is faring well despite stiff competition in the segment.
Dr. V. Sumantran, Executive Vice-Chairman of Hinduja Automotive, and Chairman of Nissan Ashok Leyland Powertrain, said that the LCV has evoked good response with a 22 per cent of the LCV market share in Maharashtra, Gujarat and the four southern States where it was launched. Rajasthan is the next targeted market for the vehicle which has taken the overall Ashok Leyland LCV market share to 10 per cent at the national level.
The company is now looking at a compressed natural gas (CNG) version of the vehicle which is in line with its plans to bring out a variant once every six months. Also on cards is a passenger variant of the DOST.
Ashok Leyland also offers ready-to-use vehicles (RUVs) on the DOST platform for various applications such as ambulance, refrigerated containers, steel containers, aluminium fixed side decks and service-at-site vehicles.