Ashok Leyland, the Hinduja group flagship company, would commission its Pantnagar plant in Uttarakhand by March next year. The unit for making medium and heavy vehicles is coming up at an outlay of Rs 1,300 crore, according to its director and chief operating officer Vinod K Dasari.
Stating that the commercial vehicle segment was badly hit due to the recession, he said it would take at least two more quarters for the segment to revive. The company is working on Bharat Stage II and III emission norms-compliant vehicles, and also on a new (Neptune) series of engines.
Earlier, the company launched 3116 multi-axle vehicle (MAV) here developed for high fuel efficiency. The vehicle is tailor-made for cement and general goods movement. “Customers are seeking to improve profits by plying higher capacity vehicles to maximise the load,” he said.
The MAV segment accounts for over 60 per cent of the medium and heavy duty goods volume. Ashok Leyland has nearly 100 variants in this segment, he added.