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Ashok Leyland Looks To Boost Market Share In Intermediate Commercial Vehicles

On Thursday, Ashok Leyland unveiled BS-VI compliant Boss LE and LX trucks with prices starting at Rs 18 lakh.

A man walks between two Ashok Leyland Ltd. goods-carrier trucks parked at a toll plaza in Mumbai. (Photographer: Abhijit Bhatlekar/Bloomberg News)
A man walks between two Ashok Leyland Ltd. goods-carrier trucks parked at a toll plaza in Mumbai. (Photographer: Abhijit Bhatlekar/Bloomberg News)

Commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland Ltd. on Thursday said it was looking to increase its market share in the intermediate commercial vehicle segment similar to the levels it has in medium and commercial vehicle nationally, a top company official said.

The Chennai-based company on Thursday unveiled BS-VI compliant Boss LE and LX trucks with prices starting at Rs 18 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). These two vehicles will address the 11.1 tonne to 14.05- tonne gross vehicle weight market need, Ashok Leyland said.

"We are around upwards of 20% market share in ICV and for all other segments put together in the medium and heavy commercial segments (including ICVs) we are in the range of upwards of 30%", Ashok Leyland, Chief Operating Officer, Anuj Kathuria said. "Therefore, nationally, we would like to get our ICV market share also at similar levels."

With the launch of Boss range of vehicles, he said the company would have a complete portfolio covering most of the applications. "In terms of monthly volume, the number of ICVs that are being sold on a monthly basis is somewhere between 3,500 to 4000 vehicles.

This is something we are seeing an improvement month after month," he said. The company would look at serving various segments including agri-perishable, e-commerce, pharmaceuticals, white goods, poultry (transportation) which is very popular in some of the southern parts of the country, he said.

To a query, he said the company was also witnessing good recovery in segments like construction and mining, road construction, mining, iron ore, coal. "With the festive season ahead of us there will be definitely a faster recovery in these segments..," he said. The vehicles introduced today are being produced at the company's Ennore facility (Tamil Nadu) to serve the southern market and also at Pant Nagar (Uttarakhand) to serve Northern markets, he said.

Customers can choose from multiple combinations, loading span from 14 feet to 24 feet and body type options of high side deck, fixed side deck, drop side deck, cab chassis, container and tipper, a company statement said.

With this launch in the Boss range, the company's ICV offering is now one of the best in the market, he claimed. "ICVs are seeing a spurt in demand and this is the best time to introduce our proven I-Gen6 BS-VI technology in one of our best-selling brands in the portfolio.

Boss ICVs will be available as a fully-built option with ergonomic and safety features for the driver. It comes bundled with digital solutions like i-Alert, and remote diagnostics.