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After “what seemed like an interminably long” wait, Dost, the first product from the Ashok Leyland-Nissan stable rolled out of Ashok Leyland's facility in Hosur. The commercial launch of this 1.25-tonne light commercial vehicle (LCV) is expected in about a month's time.
The two companies had signed an MoU way back in 2007.
“Dost is Nissan's first price-entry vehicle that will appeal to a potentially huge market,” said Dr Andy Palmer, Executive Vice-President, Nissan Motor Co and Chairman, Ashok Leyland Nissan Vehicles.
LCV market
Last year, Nissan sold 850,000 units of LCV and this year it hopes to cross 1 million, as the company aims to be the No. 1 LCV player worldwide in the mid-term.
“And Dost will be a key part of that strategy,” said Dr Palmer, adding that Nissan could not have delivered a product like Dost at a competitive cost by itself, without Ashok Leyland's alliance. While Nissan brought to the table elements like quality control and design, Ashok Leyland played a crucial part in frugal engineering, he said.
Higher durability
Dr V. Sumantran, Executive Vice-Chairman, Hinduja Automotive and Chairman, Nissan Ashok Leyland Powertrain Ltd, said that with users overloading sub-1 tonne vehicles, leading to problems like tyre bursting and spring breakages, Ashok Leyland-Nissan felt the need was for a modern vehicle with heavy durability and better load factor. Dost is also tuned for fuel economy and ability to climb steep roads, said Dr Sumantran.
Dost, which comes with 3 cylinder 1.5 litre CRDI engine, will be sold under the Ashok Leyland badge, starting with 25 dealers. It will be manufactured at the Hosur facility, with plans to ramp up annual capacity to 55,000 in 12-18 months.
The venture plans to come out with by two more vehicles, each under different platforms—as opposed to just variants of the Dost—in Phase-I, over the next three years. It plans to sell 1,40,000 LCVs, across the three platforms, over the next three years. The total investment on the three platforms is around Rs 1,500 crore.
Phase 2 will see 2,00,000 units. Manufacturing for this phase will happen at the 380-acre facility at Pillaipakkam, near Sriperumbudur.
On plans for passenger cars, Ashok Leyland said it has no plans to get into that space, though “if there is any opportunity to assist Nissan, we will help with regard to sourcing, engineering or market know-how,” said Mr Sumantran.
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