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– Bijoy Ghosh

(From left) Mr R. Seshasayee, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland; Dr R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India; Mr S. P. Hinduja, Chairman, Hinduja Group; and Mr V. Sumantran, Executive Vice-Chairman, Hinduja Automotives, at the dedication of Ashok Leyland Technical centre in Chennai on Monday.

Our Bureau

Chennai, July 28 Ashok Leyland will have a completely new product portfolio by 2012-13. It is developing a new full range truck platform and a new cabin built under modular construction.

Addressing the media today at the company’s technical centre, about 30 km north of Chennai, Mr R. Seshasayee, Managing Director, announced the development of new six-cylinder engine code named Neptune, from 4.7 up to eight litres capacity with cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and select catalytic recirculation (SCR) options.

The first Neptune engine was fired today. These engines are Euro 4 and Euro 5 compliant and can be coupled with a range of drive trains with cost effective automatic and automated manual transmission, he said.

Christened Unitruck, the trucks would be in the range of 16-49 tonne capacity and address diverse needs of different customer segments in both domestic and overseas markets. It would initially have Newgen cabs, already developed by the company, till the next generation cab is ready. The vehicles with H-series engines will come with the new cab followed by Neptune engines, Mr Seshasayee said. The modular cabs would come in multiple options , he added.

The company would not phase out existing models at one shot and introduce new products. Instead, it would gradually introduce new products as the “infrastructure development in the country is patchy”, requiring a mix of different vehicles.

“The Unitruck range reflects our global ambitions. With higher power-to-weight ratio, superior cab ergonomics and trim, the trucks will conform to European standards, and will spearhead our entry into developed markets, with competitive advantages in costs.

“It will also answer evolving needs of the domestic market as they gallop towards international benchmarks, thanks to the rapid infrastructural development,” he said. Eventually these initiatives would enable the company to offer better price performance points to the customers, he added.

The modularity construction would help the company in manufacturing on and off highway applications. It would help Ashok Leyland to standardise its production eventually improving its bottomline.

Mr Seshasayee mentioned that the company might look at manufacturing construction equipment, including backhoe loaders.

About its Finnish venture Alteams, he said the new plant to make high-pressure die-cast components would come up in Cheyyar near Kanchipuram and would shortly commence construction.

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