Ashok Leyland Dost enters Kerala market

Ashok Leyland, the Hinduja group flagship company, has launched the 'Dost', its first light commercial vehicle in the Kerala market. It marks the first vehicle to be launched since its joint venture with Nissan Motor Company. Priced Rs 3.79 lakh to Rs 4.38 lakh (ex-showroom – Kochi), the Dost would be sold through a modern dealership network with brand new infrastructure.

The new LCV, which has a payload capacity of 1.25 tonnes, will be available in three versions with the top-end version featuring air-conditioning, power steering, dual-colour beige-gray trim and fabric seats. It is equipped with 55 hp, 3 cylinder 1.5 litre common rail TDCR engine that is tuned for fuel.

The customer can choose from white, beige and blue. As another ‘first’ in the LCV segment, Ashok Leyland will offer ready-to-use vehicles (RUVs) on the Dost platform for various applications such as refrigerated containers, steel containers, ambulance, aluminium fixed side decks and service-at-site vehicles.

Dost enters the small commercial vehicle (SCV) market (ie, vehicles below 3.5 tonne capacity) which is witnessing an upward shift in terms of features, performance and payload. The overall LCV market (up to 7.5T) is growing robustly helped by the increase in urbanisation, organized retailing and improved rural connectivity.

The new vehicle has already been launched in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat and would be made available across the country in a phased manner as the production ramp up is executed.

The company has appointed four dealers in Kerala. They are Indus Motors and Malayalam Motors in Kochi, Indus Motors in Kozhikode and EVM Motors in Thiruvananthapuram, according to a company release.