Ashok Leyland targets 30 pc market share next fiscal

By IANS,

Chennai: Commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland is targeting a 30 percent market share, selling 90,000 units in the next financial year.


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“We are looking at sales of around 90,000 units next fiscal. We hope to close this fiscal selling around 65,000 units,” the company’s chief financial officer K. Sridharan told IANS.

He said the CV market is expected to grow by 15 percent and “our target market share is 30 percent.”

The company has rolled out 55,226 units and sold 53.859 units till last month. In February, the company rolled out 7,440 vehciles and sold 7,869 units as against 2,028 and 3,245 units respectively logged during Februay 2009.

With its 75,000 units per annum Uttarakhand plant slated to go on stream March 5, Ashok Leyland believes it will be able to cater to the northern, eastern and western markets with much ease and at lower costs.

“Next year we will be rolling out around 25,000 units from Uttarakhand plant,” he said.

The Rs 5,981-crore company plans to roll out around 1,000 trucks from its Uttarakhand plant this month and will save handsomely from excise duty exemption.

Sridharan also said the company will be raising a debt of around Rs.700 crore over the next two years to fund its capex plans.

“Our total capex – in our own plants and joint ventures – over the next two years is estimated at Rs.2,000 crore. While Rs.700-800 crore will come from debt, the balance will be met from internal accruals,” he added.

Ashok Leyland plans to invest around Rs.500 crore and bulk of that will go into the joint venture with Nissan Motor Company of Japan to roll out light trucks.

The Chennai-based firm will also be launching about six new trucks on its new U platform.

Meanwhile, top company officials declined to comment on the reported statement of Colin Dodge, executive vice president of Nissan Motor Company, that the two companies are joining hands to roll out a small car.

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