Ashok Leyland, a Hinduja flagship commercial vehicle major, has reported a 16% growth in domestic sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) in February. The Chennai-based company now seems to be focussing on the tippers category in a bid to cash in on the infrastructure boom after the third Covid wave. It believes tippers are the fastest-growing segment in the M&HCV space and the company recently launched what it called India’s first tipper with 9-speed automated manual transmission.
Commenting on the launch, Ashok Leyland’s M&HCV head Sanjeev Kumar said: “Tippers are the fastest-growing segment in the M&HCV space and they are the driving force for the rapidly growing infrastructure needs of our country. Tippers are largely operated in rough conditions for long durations, therefore requiring them to be highly reliable and ergonomic.”
Early last month, Ashok Leyland launched the 7 cubic metre tipper – claiming it to be the first company to offer the capacity in the intermediate commercial vehicle (ICV) segment, in a bid to supplement the company’s earlier ICV tipper range with 5 cubic metre and 6 cubic metre vehicles.
The company said the ICV tipper segment is seeing a spurt in demand due to the focus on infrastructure in the North-East and hilly states and increased construction activity in rural areas pan-India.
Though the company recorded a 4% growth in its total domestic sales in February, the light commercial vehicle (LCV) segment has de-grown by12%, owing to the semiconductor constraints.
Ashok Leyland recently said it is working on a slew of vehicles in alternative fuels such as CNG, LNG, and HCNG (hydrogen compressed natural gas) to cash in on the revival of demand in the CV segment.
Gopal Mahadevan, director and CFO, Ashok Leyland, recently told mediapersons that with the opening up of the economy, the demand recovery for light CVs and M&HCV (trucks and buses) will be on course. With infra focus, ICVs will be in demand and the company is working on a slew of launches. In LCVs, a CNG version of Bada Dost will be rolled out soon.
Bouncing back to black, Ashok Leyland had recorded a net profit of Rs 6 crore for the third quarter of FY22 against a net loss of `19 crore in the corresponding quarter of last fiscal. It reported a 15% increase in revenues in Q3FY22 at Rs 5,535 crore against Rs 4, 814 crore. During the quarter, the company generated cash of `415 crore, which brought down the net debt to Rs 2,697 crore.
