Ashok Leyland
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| File:Ashok Leyland.png | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1948 |
| Headquarters | India  |
| Revenue | USD 1 billion |
Number of employees | 12,000 |
| Website | www.ashokleyland.com |
Ashok Leyland ([NSE:]ASHOKLEY, [BSE:]500477) is a commercial vehicle manufacturing company based in Chennai, India.
The company was established in 1948 as Ashok Motors, with an aim to assemble Austin cars. Manufacturing of commercial vehicles was started in 1955 with equity contribution from Leyland Motors. Today the Company is the flagship of the Hinduja Group, an England-based Indian group. They have a market share of around 30%.
History
In 1948, Ashok Motors was set up in what was then Madras (now Chennai), for the assembly of Austin Cars. The Company's destiny and name changed soon with equity participation by British Leyland and Ashok Leyland commenced manufacture of commercial vehicles in 1955. Early products included the Leyland Comet bus chassis, which sold in large numbers to many operators, including Hyderabad Road Transport, Ahmedabad Municipality, Travancore State Transport, Bombay State Transport and Delhi Road Transport Authority. By 1963 the Comet was operated by every State Transport undertaking in India, and over 8,000 were in service. The Comet was soon joined in production by a version of the Leyland Tiger.
In 1968 production of the Leyland Titan ceased in Britain, but was restarted by Ashok Leyland in India. The Titan PD3 chassis was modified, and a five speed heavy duty constant-mesh gearbox utilized, together with the Ashok Leyland version of the O.680 engine. The Ashok Leyland Titan was very successful, and continued in production for many years.
Ashok Leyland vehicles have built a reputation for reliability and ruggedness. The 375,000 vehicles being put on the roads have considerably eased the additional pressure placed on road transportation in independent India.
In the populous Indian metros, four out of the five State Transport Undertaking (STU) buses come from Ashok Leyland. Some of them like the double-decker and vestibule buses are unique models from Ashok Leyland, tailor-made for high-density routes.
In 1987, the overseas holding by Land Rover Leyland International Holdings Limited (LRLIH) was taken over by a joint venture between the Hinduja Group, the Non-Resident Indian transnational group and IVECO Fiat SpA, part of the Fiat Group and Europe's leading truck manufacturer.
In the journey towards global standards of quality, Ashok Leyland reached a major milestone in 1993 when it became the first in India's automobile history to win the ISO 9002 certification. The more comprehensive ISO 9001 certification came in 1994, QS 9000 in 1998 and ISO 14001 certification for all vehicle manufacturing units in 2002.
Ashok Leyland is a technology leader in the commercial vehicles sector of India. Its annual turnover exceeds USD 1 billion. Selling around 75000 medium and heavy vehicles each year, Ashok Leyland is India's largest exporter of medium and heavy duty trucks out of India.
It is also one of the largest Private Sector Employers in India - with about 12,000 employees working in 6 factories spread over the length and breadth of India.
Leadership
Ashok Leyland is currently headed by R. Seshasayee. Under his leadership, the company has expanded from a purely India-centric company to a company with the global focus.
Mr. Seshasayee (Sesh as he is popularly known within the industry circles) recently took over as President of CII (confederation of Indian Industry), the apex body representing Indian Industry. Mr. Seshasayee has recently been given a 3-year extension as Managing Director of the company.
The company recently Appointed Vinod Dasari as its new Chief Operating Officer. He is widely expected to succeed Mr. Seshasayee as the MD once Seshasayee's term ends in 2009.
Mr. K. Sridharan is the chief Financial Officer of the Company. And
Company facts
- Eight out of ten metro state transport buses in India are from Ashok Leyland. At 70 million passengers a day, Ashok Leyland buses carry more people than the entire Indian rail network.
- Ashok Leyland has a near 98.5% market share in the Marine Diesel Engines Markets in India.
- In 2002, all the vehicle-manufacturing units of Ashok Leyland were ISO 14001 certified with Environmental Management System.
- The company has six manufacturing locations in India:
- This year (2005-2006) the company sold 61,655 vehicles which is an all time high considering the past sales history of Ashok Leyland.
- More people travel by Ashok Leyland products in a day than whole of Indian Railways put together.
NG 09:01, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
Current direction
The company is currently increasing its rated capacity from 50,000 vehicles per annum to nearly 77,000 vehicles per annum. After expansion, the company shall attempt to dominate the medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles market in India.
In fact the company achieved an all time production of 65000 vehicles in the financial year 2005-2006 under the stewardship of Seshasayee, Vinod Dasari and K. Sridharan (CFO).
Additionally, Ashok Leyland is looking to expand its production operations overseas to make it a more global company. To assist in this goal, the company is looking to acquire small- to medium-sized commercial vehicles manufacturers in China and other developing countries which have an established product line.
The company has recently started to build its own corporate office in the suburbs of Chennai at a Cost of Rs. 50 crore.
It is widely expected that Ashok Leyland Will buy out the ailing Czech Truck maker Avia Trucks. An announcement in this regard is expected very soon.
Products
- Passenger segment
- Viking
- Cheetah
- Panther
- 12 M
- Stag Mini
- Stag CNG
- 222 CNG
- Lynx
- Double Decker
- Vestibule
- Tarmac coach
- Goods segment
- Bison Haulage
- Tusker Super 1616
- Comet CO 1611
- 1613 H I I
- Comet Gold 1613
- Comet Tipper (4X2)
- Taurus 2516- 6 X 4 Tipper
- Bison Tipper
- Tusker Super 2214 - 6 X 2
- Tusker Gold 2214 (6 X2)
- Taurus 2516 - 6X 4
- 2516 H (6X2)
- Taurus 2516 - 6 X 2
- 4018 Tractor
- Artik 30.14 Tractor
- Tusker Turbo Tractor 3516
- ecomet 912
- ecomet 1112