Ashok Leyland to expand U-Truck range

Ashok Leyland is planning to launch a slew of vehicles on its U-Truck platform in the current financial year and expects 25% of the domestic sales to come from this platform.

The commercial vehicle manufacturer that launched the U-truck platform last year is taking the vehicles from this range pan-India during this fiscal.

“We will be expanding the U-Truck portfolio this year. We will launch multi-axle and haulage trucks as part of this range,” said K Sridharan, chief financial officer, on an analyst conference call.

Ashok Leyland sold 1,200 U-trucks in the last fiscal. Currently these trucks are being sold only in two states. “This year we will be going pan-India with our U-Truck range,” he added.

The company has started scaling up production of the U-Truck at its Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, facility. Currently, the company manufactures 2,500 vehicles (including U-Truck) at Pantnagar per month, which would ramped up to 3,500 vehicles for the last two quarters. The installed capacity at Pantnagar is 50,000 units.

Out of the total Rs1,100 crore capital expenditure planned by the company, about 50% would be utilised for developing the Neptune engine platform and U-Truck platform, while the rest would be spend for the joint venture firms.

Ashok Leyland rolled out 10 models of tippers and tractor trailers in the 16-49 tonne segment as part of its U-Truck range in 2010. Going ahead, the company plans to add another 15 models under U-Truck.

Tata Motors recently announced plans for about 10 variants on its Prima platform. The variants will have lower carrying capacity and sport a more competitive pricing.