Ashok Leyland plans flurry of launches to boost light trucks market share
Ashok Leyland, the Hinduja Group flagship, will roll out six new light commercial vehicles (2-3.5 tonne) in the next 12 months as part of a plan to increase its LCV market share to 25% from 20% now, a top official said.
«This year, we have six versions of the Dost lined up. We will launch one model every alternate month starting this month-end,» Amandeep Singh, president, LCV, international operations, defence and power solutions at Ashok Leyland, told ET. «This will come with varied payload, technology, and volume capacity.»
Dost is a range of pick-up trucks.
«Our target is to get to 25% (market share in LCVs) in the short term over the next two years' time,» Singh said, pointing out that the company has been benefitting from the upward shift in the tonnage — from sub-2-tonne to 2-3.5 tonne in the market. LCVs is the largest sub-segment of the light truck segment. India's light truck market, dominated by Mahindra & Mahindra, comprises small commercial vehicles — those with a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of less than two tonnes and those with GVW that ranges from 2 to 3.5 tonnes.
While Tata Motors is still the second largest by volume in the overall LCV segment, it has lost ground to Ashok Leyland that sells the Dost and Bada Dost branded light trucks in the 2-3.5 tonne, Singh said. Leyland does not have a presence in the sub-2 tonne segment where Tata Motors sells the Ace branded small and light trucks.
Overall sales of light trucks in the domestic market crimped to around 542,000 units in FY24 from 559,000
