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Truck and bus maker Ashok Leyland on Wednesday introduced two new trucks – Guru and Partner – to fill a gap in its portfolio in the ICV (intermediate commercial vehicle) and strengthen its presence in the light commercial vehicle segment (LCV), respectively.
“The new launches address the two segments between 5-tonne and 12-tonne range where we were weak. Guru has been developed in 18 months as against a normal time frame of three-four years,” Vinod Dasari, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, said during the launch here.
Powered by the company’s new H series engine and packed with new design and features including additional payload offering, Guru is priced at ₹16.72 lakh, including VAT (Chennai). It is aimed at the value segment of about 50,000 units ICV market.
“Guru will offer the highest payload of 13 tonne GVW (gross vehicle weight), fuel efficiency and sleeping provision in the cabin. It comes in both BS 4 and BS 3 variants,” said Anuj Kathuria, President – Global Trucks, Ashok Leyland. AL has been present in two of the three sub-segments of ICV market through Ecomet (known as overloading segment) and Boss (premium segment).
It was absent in the value segment that make up 40-42 per cent of the ICV. With Guru, it hopes to increase its share in the competitive ICV market, where VE Commercial Vehicle is the leader now.
The new Partner, a LCV, sports a modern Euro cabin with factory-fitted AC option and will be available in 4-tyre and 6-tyre variants. The 6-wheel 14-ft variant will be priced at ₹10.59 lakh, while 4-wheel 14-ft variant will carry a price tag of ₹10.29 lakh. Compared to the earlier version, the new Partner has higher payload capacity and has been designed to meet the new emission norms.
With GVW of 6-7.2 tonne, Partner will target application areas such as parcel goods, durables, perishables and FMCG products, among others. The market size of partner segment (goods) is estimated at 35,000 units a year.
“We hope to garner a market share of 15-20 per cent in this segment in a year’s time,” said Nitin Seth, President – LCV, Ashok Leyland.
Both Guru and Partner will be launched in a phased manner across the country.
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