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Ashok Leyland, the flagship company of the Hinduja Group, which is in the process of rolling out its first Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) across the country in partnership with Japanese auto major Nissan, plans to come out with a passenger version of the LCV.
“We are working on the design and expect to come out with the passenger version of the LCV, Dost, within a year. It will be a seven to eight seat vehicle,” Dr V. Sumantran, Executive Vice-Chairman of Hinduja Automotive Ltd and Chairman of Nissan Ashok Leyland Powertrain, told media persons here on Saturday.
He was in the city in connection with the launch of its LCV in Andhra Pradesh. With a payload capacity of 1.25 tonnes, the vehicle is available in three versions with the top end model having air-conditioned cabin, power steering and fabric seats.
No plans for passenger car foray now
Dr Sumantran however said the company was at the moment not having any plans to foray into the passenger car segment.
On plans to market the LCV overseas, he said the company would, in the course of time, tap export markets in the BRIC countries. “We are looking at three export markets — two for Nissan and one for Ashok Leyland. We have begun to receive enquiries from some of these markets,” he said.
The company will be producing the LCV from its Hosur plant, which can roll out 55,000 units annually, and Nissan’s facility at Oragadam, which has a capacity to produce 40,000 units of the LCV.
Dr Sumantran said the domestic LCV market was still untapped to a large extent. He was of the view that the high interest regime would not have any significant impact on sales in this category.
The LCV segment is estimated at 5.2 lakh units and is expected to clock a CAGR of 15 per cent during 2011-15. From 2002 to 2007, the LCV segment grew at 19 per cent CAGR to touch 3.53 lakh units in 2010-11.
More vehicles on Dost platform
He said the company would be launching another model of LCV in the next 12-18 months. The company will also offer ready-to-use vehicles on the Dost platform for various applications such as refrigerated containers, steel containers, ambulance and service-at-site vehicles.
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