Hinduja Group’s flagship company, Ashok Leyland, is planning to invest around Rs 4,150 crore in Tamil Nadu. The proposed investments include a green-field facility to manufacture light commercial vehicles (LCV).
Vinod Dasari, managing director, Ashok Leyland, said that the facility will be set up by Ashok Leyland-Nissan Motor Company, a joint venture between Ashok Leyland and Nissan. The facility will come at Pillaipakkam near Chennai.
Last year, Ashok Leyland–Nissan had launched its first product ‘Dost’ (which came from Ashok Leyland). The company has so far sold 7,760 units and managed to clock a 17 per cent market share in the LCV market, according to Dasari. The JV company, in which Ashok Leyland holds 51 per cent, is planning to launch two more products.
“We are seeing good response for the product. We currently have a backlog of three months, and hence have to add another 50 units to our current production capacity of 100 units a day.” The company has set a target to sell 36,000 LCVs in the next financial year.
Besides investing in the green field facility for LCVs, the company will invest in Hosur, Ennore, where Ashok Leyland has its facilities, and in Velli Vaayalsavadi and Orgadam.
“Our capex for the current financial year will be around Rs 800 crore, including investments in the JV, plant and equipment (a major portion will go into Pantnagar) and in research and development,” Dasari said.
The company is planning to launch Jan Bus, which its claims to be the world’s first front-engine, single-step entry bus with full-flat floor and five-axle rigid truck. Jan Bus is scheduled for launch during the current year. Besides, the company is planning to launch Neptune engines in the next three to four months and is planning to bring Avia’s Cab to India by the fourth quarter of 2012-13, which will replace the company’s Comet Cab.