Hinduja group flagship Ashok Leyland (ALL) on Monday said that transition to BS VI emission norms will be a smooth affair and it has no worry on the inventory front as it is at a manageable level now. “We have just started seeding our BS VI vehicles (ICVs) into the Delhi-NCR region to a select fleet/individual operators where the BS VI fuel is available and we will do so pan-India as and when the fuel is made available,” said Anuj Kathuria, chief operating officer, ALL. The company has invested close to `500 crore on the new modular BS VI platform to develop BS VI products, he added.
Addressing presspersons here while announcing the company’s first batch of BS VI (ICVs) vehicles delivery to five operators in the Delhi-NCR region, Kathuria said: “We have begun with ICVs now and we will start delivering M&HCVs in the next two weeks. We are even ready to supply pan-India once the fuel is made available and we hope by March 1, the government will ensure the availability of the BS fuel across the country.” The company chose to do with ICVs because given the fuel availability and these are short haul vehicles, he added.
“I said transition to BS VI is a smooth affair for Ashok Leyland, because we have parallelly created an after-market service support system as well as well-trained mechanics across our dealers network. If it was a chaotic during the transition to BS IV from BS III three years ago, it will be a smooth one this time as we have planned well in advance to ensure everything in place (good ecosystem) before full-fledged BS VI onslaught,” Kathuria pointed out.
Responding to questions, he said: “We have developed a new modular platform for BS VI vehicles and the combination of our iEGR technology with best-in-class SCR system (a robust after market service system) will not only better suit for Indian road conditions than our peers but also ensure better TCO to our customers.”
“Our iEGR/SCR combined technology ensures 90% reduction in nitro oxide (NOX) and 50% reduction in particulates because it controls at the engine levels. “This is most suited technology for Indian road conditions,” he said.
On the company’s inventory level, Kathuria said: “One need not worry about our inventory. It is well manageable as we have been clearing stocks at regular intervals. We have some inventory, but in only few models, and they are also for specific orders. We have also some export commitments. There won’t be any clearance sales and those vehicles for our day-to-day business.” Except Europe, most of our export markets are either BS III or BS IV only, where we can serve with our existing models, he said further.
Ashok Leyland had observed a number of non-working days over the last few months across its plants to avoid building up of unnecessary inventory at both factory and dealer networks level.
On the expected cost escalation on the BS VI models, Kathuria, while declined to comment on the exact percentage hike, said: “When the BS IV transition took place, the cost had gone up from 5% to 8% depending upon vehicle models. However, it could be more than BS IV emission norms as BS VI transition is most complicated and a challenging one as we have developed under new platform than just upgrading the existing BS IV vehicles.”