Ashok Leyland to invest Rs 400cr in LCV platform; eyes 5-fold

Hinduja Group flagship Ashok Leyland is aimming to increase its export basket of light commercial vehicles (LCV) to 25% from the present 5% iver the next three years, a senior official said.

Nitin Seth, president, Light Commercial Vehicles, Ashok Leyland said that the company will also be investing Rs 400 crore into a new platform of LCVs that will continue to launch new product every six months.

"We are targeting all the gulf countries, Russia, Ukraine and lot of West African countries which follow left hand drive. Our left hand drive vehicles will start coming from June this year.

"Today, only 5% of our volumes are from exports and our ambition should be at least 25% in the next three years," Seth said.

He said that all the vehicles manufactured by the company presently cater to right hand drive markets and is exported to SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries, whereas 80% of the global market follows left hand driving.

"We have 15% market share of the LCV market in the country. We hope to grow between 20% to 30% as we move forward," Seth said at the launch of DOST+, a new LCV.