With 70 days remaining for the transition to BS-VI norms, commercial vehicles major Ashok Leyland does not see any alarming levels of inventory pile-up of BS-IV vehicles, according to its chief operating officer Anuj Kathuria.
Ashok Leyland, the flagship company of the Hinduja Group, announced the delivery of the first batch of BS-VI trucks for its customers in the Delhi-NCR region, aligning with BS-VI fuel availability in the country.
“We have delivered the ICV range of BS-VI compliant trucks, because it caters to local operations [within the region]. We will slowly start delivery of other product ranges like haulage, tipper and multi-axle,” Mr. Kathuria told reporters. He also said the company had invested about ₹500 crore for BS-VI transition, including creation of a new platform, based on which the vehicles will be launched. Mr. Kathuria also said he did not see any major challenge in terms of BS-VI fuel availability and it was going as per schedule.
Clarity in move to BS-VI
To a query on BS-IV stock, he said it was at a manageable level. “We are much better placed now unlike during the transition from BS-III to BS-IV, which was sudden and chaotic. In the case of BS-VI transition, there was clarity and we were aware about the timing,” Mr. Kathuria said.
While refusing to get into specific pricing details of the company’s BS-VI trucks, he hinted that prices would be higher than those prevalent during the BS-IV transition.
“When we migrated from BS-III to BS-IV, the prices increased by 5-8%. With BS-VI, we are implementing two norms in one [go] and so the prices would be much higher. Having said that, customers should look at the total cost of ownership rather than the cost of acquisition of vehicles. On that metric, ours would be the best in class,” Mr. Kathuria said.
On pre-buying of BS-IV trucks, he said that the experience had been different across segments. “In the multi-axle segment, the demand has not been great. In the ICV segment, the demand has been very good, mainly from the e-commerce segment, as it is not hit by the axle norms. Similarly, in the tipper segment, we are seeing some green shoots now due to demand from infrastructure segment and coal shipments. In the past eight months, the tipper segment has been hit by factors like elections and the monsoon. But that is getting resolved,” Mr. Kathuria said.
The company expects the M&HCV industry to close the fiscal (2019-20) with total sales of about 2 lakh units, a decline of nearly 46.23% compared with last year.