Ashok Leyland rolls out Dost with more muscle

Ashok Leyland has launched the Dost+, a muscled up version of its small commercial vehicle Dost, with a higher payload capacity and cargo space.

Addressing the launch of the Dost+, Nitin Seth, President, Light Commercial Vehicles, said it marks Ashok Leyland’s commitment to the small commercial vehicle space even after it has parted ways with its partner Nissan last year. It will launch a product in this segment every six months till 2020. It has aggressive plans in the LCV segment for the domestic and export markets. Less than 10 per cent of its output is now exported which it hopes to grow to 25 per cent.

Early next year it will come out with left-hand drive version targeting West Asia and Russia. Its exports now are targeted primarily at SAARC countries.

The Hinduja group company sold about 32,000 LCVs last year and this will grow to about 40,000 this year. As of August this year, it had sold 20 per cent more than it had sold last year in the comparable period.

The Dost+ priced at ₹5.54 lakh (ex-showroom Chennai) is not a variant of the Dost but an evolutionary step forward, he said. With a payload capacity close to 1.5 tonnes buyers pay a 5 per cent higher price than the Dost, but get 18 per cent more value. It comes with an additional warranty of two years and one lakh km.

It has been launched in the southern States and parts of Maharashtra and will be rolled out in stages pan-India, he said at the formal launch today.

The newer version targets the upper end of the SCV segment in the 2-3.5 tonne gross vehicle segment. The Dost+ weighs less as compared with its payload capacity which is a unique feature, he said.

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