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Ashok Leyland to produce heavy duty vehicles for coal mining

Badal Sanyal

KOLKATA, Oct. 22

AS part of its product diversification programme, the Chennai-based Ashok Leyland is actively considering producing heavy-duty dumpers and trippers for use by the coal-mining sector. Most of the new, heavy-duty vehicles will be manufactured at the compan y's Hosur unit near Bangalore.

Confirming this over telephone from Chennai, Mr Amol J. Sandil, Executive Director (Marketing), said the company was aware that the demand for heavy-duty dumpers, trippers and commercial vehicles would substantially increase in the coming years as fresh investments in coal-mining and road construction activities were likely to materialise in a big way. Hence the decision to diversify production into these segments.

Mr Sandil said the eastern region would be the main market for dumpers and trippers. The company was already producing smaller-capacity trippers, which were mostly being sold in Orissa. In fact, the company had been able to sell about 1,000 such trippers per annum in the eastern region.

He said Ashok Leyland would shortly have trial runs for a 44-tonne heavy-duty commercial vehicle. The `trailer-type' vehicle would be used for transporting container cargo. This apart, medium-duty vehicles with carrying capacity between 16 and 22 tonnes would also be launched in the market.

Declining to comment on the financial performance of the company for the third quarter ended September this year (the results are to be announced tomorrow), Mr Sandil said the market for commercial vehicles had remained tough with the result that most of the domestic manufacturers were feeling the pinch. He, however, indicated that even in the depressed market, Ashok Leyland was selling every month about 10,000 trucks in the southern region, about 700 vehicles in the western region and 500 in the North. The monthly sale in the eastern region was confined to 200 trucks.

Mr Sandil said the company had plans to expand its sales network in the eastern region. Within a year-and-a-half, the number of dealers had been increased from 5 to 11. The company's dealership base covered West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa .