Ashok Leyland to roll out 25 products in 18 months

“We have a large number of products coming in from the new U-Truck platform and beginning April this year will launch 25 products in 18 months. Each model will have different variants,” Ashok Leyland Managing Director R Seshasayee told reporters here.
The company would roll out the product from its upcoming Uttarakhand facility, which will go on stream by March with an initial capacity of 50,000 units, he added.
When asked about its existing product portfolio, Seshasayee said, “our entire product range will be transformed into U-Truck platform by 2013.”

The company on Saturday unveiled its tractors and Tipper from the U-Truck platform which are BS IV compliant. All new products are BS III and IV compliant and can be upgraded to BS V. When asked about the company’s capital expenditure plan, Seshasayee said, “in the coming two years, there will be no major capacity expansions. Our capacity will be 1.5 lakh units once the Uttarakhand plant gets commissioned.”
However, the company would require money in product development and in increasing head count in research and development, he added.
The company last year had reduced its capex by Rs 1,300 crore to Rs 2,000 crore for 2009-12 on account of a downturn in the commercial vehicle industry.

Ashok Leyland-Nissan JV
 Ashok Leyland on Saturday said it will have no joint branding with Japan’s Nissan for light commercial vehicles to be manufactured by a joint venture between the two firms.
Ashok Leyland and Nissan had announced three JVs in 2007 for making light commercial vehicles (LCVs), powertrains and developing technology, and setting up of a plant near Chennai, envisaging a total investment of Rs 2,300 crore. “There will be no joint badging. Some products in the value segment will bear Ashok Leyland name, while those in the niche segment will have Nissan badge,” Ashok Leyland Managing Director R Seshasayee told reporters here. He said Ashok Leyland and Nissan would sell their respective products through their own networks.

Seshasayee said due to land acquisition problems, there has been a delay in setting up of the manufacturing plant, as a result of which the partners have decided to start producing LCVs from their respective plants.