Ashok Leyland luxury bus to be priced above Rs 25 lakh

New Delhi, Nov 4: India's second largest truck and bus maker Ashok Leyland will launch a ’super luxury’ bus in January 2002 as part of a joint venture with Sundaram Industries and Spanish busbody maker - Irizar. The bus, to be made according to international standards, would be the first product introduced by the joint-venture company called ’Irizar TVS’, Ashok Leyland, executive director (marketing) Amol J Sandil, told PTI here. “It will be a super luxury coach and priced onwards of Rs 25 lakh depending upon the options required by the customer. Most probably, they will be sold under the original Irizar brandname of ’Inter-Century’,” he said.

Mr Sandil said the bus would have a ’space frame’ design, built on a double chassis, one on the front and the other on the rear, on which the axles would be mounted.

“This would allow ample luggage space beneath the bus. Besides, various features like power steering, audio/video facility, air-conditioning, telephone would be there,” he said, adding the bus would be targeted at various segments like city-to-city, tourist, pilgrimage and airport-to-city travel. Ashok Leyland, Sundaram, a TVS Group company, and Irizar hold equal stakes in Irizar TVS, which was formed earlier this year.

— PTI