Ashok Leyland Limited is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Chennai and owned by the Hinduja Group.[4] Founded in 1948 as Ashok Motors, it as renamed Ashok Leyland in 1955 following a collaboration with British Leyland.[5] Today it is the second-largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles in India (holding a 32.1% market share as of 2016), the third-largest bus manufacturer,[6] and the tenth-largest manufacturer of lorries.
While its corporate office is located in Chennai, the company operates manufacturing facilities in Ennore, Bhandara, Vijayawada, Hosur, Alwar, and Pantnagar.[7][8][9] Ashok Leyland also has overseas manufacturing units in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates, and Leeds, United Kingdom. Additionally, it has a joint venture with the Alteams Group to manufacture high-press die-casting extruded aluminium components for the automotive and telecommunications sectors.[10] The company also makes spare parts and engines for industrial and marine applications.
Ashok Leyland's products range from 1-tonne Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) to 55-tonne Gross Trailer Weight (GTW). This includes trucks, buses ranging from 9 to 80 seats, vehicles for defence and special applications, and diesel engines for industrial, genset, and marine applications.[11] In 2019, the company claimed to be ranked in the top 10 global commercial vehicle makers.[12] It sold approximately 140,000 vehicles (M&HCV and LCV) in 2016. The company has passenger transportation options ranging from 10 seaters to 74 seaters (M&HCV = LCV). In the trucks segment, Ashok Leyland primarily concentrates on the 16 to 25-tonne range and has a presence in the 7.5 to 49 tonne range.
History
Ashok Motors
Ashok Motors was founded in 1948 by Raghunandan Saran, an Indian independence campaigner from Punjab.[13] By the end of the Indian Independence Movement, he was persuaded by India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to invest in a modern industrial venture. Ashok Motors was incorporated in 1948 as a company to assemble and manufacture Austin cars from England, and the company was named after the founder's only son, Ashok Saran. The company had its headquarters in Chennai, with the manufacturing plant also in Chennai. The company was engaged in the assembly and distribution of Austin A40 passenger cars in India.
In year 1954 Indian government gave approvals to Ashok Motors to manufacturer Leyland Comet trucks the generation range of cabover trucks from Leyland and they also received approvals to manufacture Tiger Cub lightweight bus also by Leyland. These were the first models of British Leyland manufactured in india.[14]
Partnerships
Rosoboronexport & ELCOM
Ashok Leyland Defence Systems (ALDS), Russia's Rosoboronexport and ELCOM Group have signed a cooperation agreement in defence business to provide tracked vehicles to the Indian Armed Forces. The agreement was signed on the side lines of the 2017 International Military Technical Forum Army held at Kubinka, near Moscow, on 25 August 2017.[29][30]
IIT Madras
Ashok Leyland and Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) signed a memorandum of understanding, on 19 August 2017, for Ashok Leyland to sponsor the Centre of Battery Engineering (CoBE) at IIT Madras. As part of the agreement, Ashok Leyland partnered with IIT Madras to carry out research and development (R&D) activities for strengthening battery engineering and related sub-parts, especially for electric vehicles.[31]
Products
Trucks
Current range
Boss is an intermediate commercial vehicle launched by Ashok Leyland. It is available in the range of 11T to 18.5T. The presently available models are:
Former range
- General
- 1916 4x2
- 1920 4x2
- Boss
- 1115
- 1215
- 1315
- 1415
- 1920
- Ecomet
- 1015
- 1115
Subsidiary ventures
Construction equipment
In June 2009 the company expanded into construction equipment segment, with a 50:50 joint venture with John Deere. It was floated as a separate entity under the name of Leyland – Deere Limited.[48]
Ashok Leyland Defence Systems
Ashok Leyland Defence Systems (ALDS) is a newly floated company by the Hinduja Group. Ashok Leyland holds 26 percent in Ashok Leyland Defence Systems (ALDS). The company designs and develops defence logistics and tactical vehicles, defence communication and other systems.[49] Ashok Leyland is the largest supplier of logistics vehicles to the Indian Army. It has supplied over 60,000 of its Stallion vehicles, all manufactured at the Vehicle Factory Jabalpur (VFJ).[50]
International operations and exports
Exports of commercial vehicles contribute to a seven percent share of Ashok Leyland's total revenues.[51]
The company has a presence in SAARC countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal, and in the Middle East countries where it exports 3600–4000 units a year.[52] The company has an assembly unit, mainly for buses, in Ras Al Khaimah in UAE to cater to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states.[53] This unit currently assembles 4000 units, which the company plans to increase to 6000 units.[51]
Ashok Leyland exports medium and heavy commercial vehicles to Arab countries like Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Yemen; former Soviet Union countries like Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine; Sub-Saharan Africa; Sri Lanka; Bangladesh; Nepal; the Philippines; Thailand and Malaysia.[53]
Technology
Hythane engines
Ashok Leyland has also developed hythane engines in association with the Australian company Eden Energy. Ashok Leyland developed a 6-cylinder, 6 L 92 kW BS-4 engine which uses hythane (H-CNG,) which is a blend of natural gas and around 20% of hydrogen. A 4-cylinder 4 L 63 kW engine is also being developed for H-CNG blend in a joint R&D program with MNRE (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy) and Indian Oil Corporation.[63]
Hybrid technology
Non-plugin Hybrid Bus
At the Delhi Auto Expo 2016, Ashok Leyland introduced an advanced non-plug-in version of HYBUS. This model is powered by an H-Series 6-cylinder diesel engine (BS IV compliant), which is not used to drive the vehicle forward but to charge the ultra-capacitors that power the 150 kW electric motor. An automatic start-stop system is employed to reduce overall engine idling time. The bus can restart using the stored energy when the engine is off, enhancing fuel efficiency and decreasing NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) levels.[64]
Awards and recognition
See also
External links
- Lanka Leyland – official website
References
- Ashok Leyland Ltd. Financial Statements bseindia.com^
- Ashok Leyland AR 24-25^
- Lanka Ashok Leyland Lanka Ashok Leyland^