Ashok Leyland Nissan To Launch LCVs In Mid-2011

Ashok Leyland Nissan To Launch LCVs In Mid-2011The Hinduja Group's Ashok Leyland and Japanese Nissan Motor Company announced that their joint venture company, Ashok Leyland Nissan, will launch light commercial vehicles (LCVs) in mid-2011.

Ashok Leyland owns 51% equity stake in Ashok Leyland Nissan, while Nissan Motor holds the remaining 49% stake.

The company will make two models at Ashok Leyland's facility located at Hosur in Tamil Nadu and one model at Nissan Motor's plant at Oragadam near here.

Executive chairman of Hinduja Automotive V. Sumantran stated, "The three models will cater to different segments of the market- trucks, passenger carriers. The vehicles will be in the 5-7.5 tonne gross vehicle weight (GVW) range."

As Ashok Leyland Nissan was not able to obtain 380 acres at Sriperumbudur near here to establish a new facility, the two promoters have decided to leverage their subsisting production facilities to hit the growing 350,000 units per annum LCV market at the earliest.

Senior Vice President of Nissan Motor and Chairman of Ashok Leyland Nissan Andy Palmer said, "The joint venture is moving forward at full throttle now although we had been forced to slow down a bit during the recessionary phase last year."

Ashok Leyland Nissan is likely to hit a total output of 150,000 units by the next three years.

Sumantran said that the engines and gear boxes will also be made at the respective plants where the LCVs are to be rolled out.

The BS (Bharat Stage) III and IV compliant 3 litre, 4 cylinder common rail diesel engines and gear boxes will be made by Nissan Ashok Leyland Powertrain Ltd, a 51:49 joint venture between Nissan Motor and Ashok Leyland.

Sumantran said the decision on the new facility will be taken at the closing stage of first phase by which time the land problem is likely to be resolved. (With Inputs from Agencies)