Ashok Leyland looks to regain lost market share in LCV segment

Company says its target is to go back to the 18% market share, which it used to hold earlier

Commercial vehicles maker, Ashok Leyland Limited (ALL), is embarking on a ‘platform strategy’ to regain the market share that it lost in the domestic light commercial vehicle (LCV) segment, according to its president (LCV, defence) Nitin Seth.

“Our target is to go back to the 18 per cent market share, which we used to hold earlier. Towards this, we are looking at bringing in more variants based on our existing three platforms -- Dost (LCV), Partner (mini-truck) and MiTR (mini-bus),” he told Business Standard.

ALL garnered an 18 per cent share of the LCV market in the 2012-2013 financial year. The Hinduja group flagship firm’s market share, however, plummeted to 14 per cent in 2013-14, and is currently hovering at 16 per cent.

In the domestic LCV market, where ALL currently holds the second position,  around 525,000 units were sold during 2012-2013. The sales came down to 385,000 units in 2013-14. During 2013-14, ALL sold 27,200 LCV units.

“The GDP had come down and the Indian economy contracted, and so did the LCV market during 2013-14. However, the market is now looking up,” Seth said, adding that the company had sold 100,000 units of Dost over the last three years, and its objective was to sell the next 100,000 units in less than two-and-a-half years.

On any plans to expand its Hosur plant, which currently has an installed capacity of 55,000 units, he replied in the negative. The current capacity is sufficient to meet the demand for the next three years, he said.

According to him, Ashok Leyland is gearing up to tap the huge potential that the mini school bus segment offers, with its new platform MiTR.

“We are a relatively new entrant in this segment. However, we are much ahead of competition, as MiTR is conformed to the central government’s new school bus compliance norms, which will be made mandatory from August 1, 2015. This is a good play to stay in,” he said, adding that while MiTR was currently available as a non-AC 28-seater variant,  plans were afoot to introduce AC variants with 32, 36 and 40-seater capacities shortly.