Ashok Leyland declines to go beyond Stile

Says has no further passenger vehicle ambitions, will continue as commercial vehicle manufacturer

India's second largest truck manufacturer Ashok Leyland, which launched a multi-seater van on Monday, said it does not have further passenger vehicle ambitions and would more likely remain a commercial vehicle manufacturer.

The Chennai-headquartered, Hinduja Group company, launched a multi-purpose vehicle named Stile, aimed at the commercial use segment such as taxis and hotel transfers.

The van, which is the first ever attempt by the company to crack the passenger vehicle segment after being recognised as a heavy-duty truck and bus manufacturer for decades, will be sold through a network light commercial vehicles outlets.

Though targeted at the taxi operators, Stile can be bought for personal use also. Normally all such vehicles (MPVs and MUVs), which includes Maruti Eeco, Maruti Ertiga, Chevrolet Enjoy, Mahindra Bolero, to name a few, are sold through a network of personal vehicles.

V Sumantran, vice chairman, Ashok Leyland, said, "Stile is the closest we have got to a passenger car and I don't think we will go deeper into this. Our DNA and our value proposition is more towards commercial vehicles and it will remain like that".

This is first in recent times that a company has engineered a product specifically for a commercial buyer. Other commercial products include the Tata Ace Magic, Mahindra Maxximo mini van but they are built to cater to markets outside city limits and are much less powerful.

The Stile is a re-engineered version of the Evalia van developed and sold by one of Japan's largest car maker and Ashok Leyland's India partner Nissan. The Stile, which itself is derived from Nissan's European product NV200, will be made at Renault-Nissan's India plant in Oragadam, near Chennai.

Ashok Leyland's India joint venture with Nissan led to the creation of three models. All the models - a light commercial vehicle, a commercial van and a light truck - will be targeted at the commercial segment.

Nissan, meanwhile, will be targeting the personal vehicle space. For instance, the Evalia, is a premium van from the company priced at Rs 8.7 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). The mutually accepted strategy allows both companies to operate differently without interfering with each others products.

"Phase 1 of our (joint venture with Nissan) plans included the launch of three models - Dost, Stile and Partner. The second phase includes setting up of a greenfield plant. We are yet to finalise the investment for the new plant", added Sumantran.