Goa’s light commercial vehicle market is got lively after news of vehicle launches by Ashok Leyland have come in, reports Team B&C
Goa’s light commercial vehicle (LCV) segment of the automobile market looks set for some action with slew of interesting launches from Ashok Leyland.
The flagship automobile company of the Hinduja group is planning to introduce about eight- ten new vehicles over the next two-three years. The new portfolio of products is likely to be a mix of new ground up vehicles as well as upgraded versions of existing models like Mitr, Partner, Dost, among others.
Check with the local dealership, Gemini Motors, Colvale, reveals that Ashok Leyland’s success with the Dost places it in the top among LCV players. The model has a market share of 32 per cent in Goa and is in a leadership position vis-a-vis rivals.
Santosh M Karekar, senior manager, sales, Gemini Motors, says that Dost is doing well on the back of demand from transport industry, load operators and company distributors. “It is the favorite pick-up of companies for transporting goods from the depot to the retailer,” he says.
According to reports Ashok Leyland will invest about Rs. 400 crore to fund the expansion of its portfolio. It was in a joint venture with Japan’s Nissan previously and several of its products including the best-selling Dost is a product of this partnership. However, this partnership is now a thing of the past and all new products are going to be independently produced by Ashok Leyland.
“We are planning on our own and will have a bunch of new models coming in. We will have a full range of new LCVs in the next two-three years,” said Vinod Desari, managing director, Ashok Leyland, recently.
The first vehicles produced by the company’s independent research and technology would start rolling out from its Hosur plant in Tamil Nadu by June 2017. Refreshes and upgrades to the vehicles developed under Nissan’s partnership would also continue, however “new technology for the new products would all be in-house,” added Desari.
Ashok Leyland’s best-selling LCVs, the Dost and Partner are based on Nissan’s design, engineering and technology. The company has decided to focus on the LCV business as it is has been its mainstay.
“We believe in the LCV business and we want to be able to offer a full range of vehicles to our customers. Many of our existing customers, who own larger and heavy commercial vehicles also want to own smaller vehicles from us,” said Desari. Meanwhile Goa’s LCV market is steadied after being badly affected b mining closure and the economy slowdown. Large LCVs took the brunt but comparatively small LCVs fared better. Currently most dealers have adjusted to moderate sales after witnessing spectacular growth in the mining boom days. Sales of Dost jumped 36 per cent in 2015-16 and expectations are that 2016-17 will be another year of robust sales, says Karekar.