New LCVs from AL-Nissan joint venture

January 30, 2014 10:21 pm | Updated November 17, 2021 12:18 am IST - CHENNAI:

V .Sumantran, Vice Chairman, Ashok Leyland, at the launch of  Light Commercial Vehicles-`MiTR' bus, in Chennai on Thursday ( January 30, 2014)
Photo : Bijoy Ghosh
To go with Bharani's report

V .Sumantran, Vice Chairman, Ashok Leyland, at the launch of Light Commercial Vehicles-`MiTR' bus, in Chennai on Thursday ( January 30, 2014)
Photo : Bijoy Ghosh
To go with Bharani's report

The light commercial vehicle (LCV) joint venture of Ashok Leyland and Nissan has expanded its offerings with the launch of two new feature-packed vehicles. The new products are hitting segments that have not seen roll out of modern vehicles for over two decades. The new launches, one each in goods and passenger categories, are expected to take on vehicles of Tata Motors and Eicher in their respective segments.

The company, on Thursday, launched Partner, a truck with 6.6 tonne GVW (gross vehicle weight) and MiTR, a 27-seater bus. Both the products, developed based on F24 LCV platform that is being used by three global brands, including Nissan, will be powered by a ZD30 common rail diesel engine. Partner will target application areas such as retail, freight forwarding, refrigerated transportation, among others, while MiTR will target both staff transportation and school bus segments.

“The primary focus on these products is driver comfort and driving ergonomics like we did in Dost. The products have been completely retuned for the Indian market with about 97 per cent localisation,” said V Sumantran, Vice-Chairman, Ashok Leyland.

Both Partner and MiTR are priced 7-8 per cent higher than competition, but the LCVs promise 8-12 per cent higher fuel efficiency.

Power steering is the standard option in both the vehicles. Partner will come in two wheel base options with an optional AC system and the price range will be from Rs.8.89 lakh to Rs.9.49 lakh depending on the wheel base, AC or non-AC options. MiTR is priced at Rs.12.49 lakh.

“Since 1985, these two categories have not seen roll out of any modern vehicles,” said Nitin Seth, Executive Director (LCV)-Marketing, Ashok Leyland.

Tata Motors and Eicher are presently dominating the categories. The annual market size for Partner and MiTR segments are estimated at 30,000 units and 35,000 units, respectively.

Market launch of the products will be on a phased manner starting with southern region.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.