Ashok Leyland aiming to touch pre-pandemic sales volume in FY24

"In 2017-18, the MHCV industry had touched the peak," Sanjeev Kumar, head for MHCV at Ashok Leyland, told reporters in Kolkata.

He said the company had hit the peak MHCV sales volumes in 2017-18 at around 130,000 units.

He said: "This year we are aiming to reach the highest peak."

He said the industry is expected to grow at 8-10 percent this year.

Kumar shared that in FY23 MHCV industry had registered a growth of  48 percent while Ashok Leyland’s growth was recorded at 78 percent.

He said the company is looking forward to East and North India to register growth in the MHCV segment.

"East is becoming an attractive destination at this point in time. So, the eastern region is important for the overall scheme of Ashok Leyland," he said.

He said the company had clocked 3 percent market share in the Eastern region last year.

Across the country, the company had a five percent market share during the same period.

Kumar said the company is planning to make 15-16 launches in bus and truck segments in FY24.

He said the Commercial Vehicle (CV) industry is undergoing a mega change at present.

Interestingly, Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) & Ashok Leyland recently unveiled India’s first Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (H2-ICE) powered Heavy Duty truck.

Ashok Leyland, along with RIL, has been developing this unique technology over the past year and has been under test since August 2022. 

The Ashok Leyland H2-ICE heavy-duty truck range (19-35 Tonne) is powered by Hydrogen, a renewable and clean energy source, maintaining overall architecture similar to a conventional diesel-based combustion engine thus helping quicker migration to cleaner energy sources at relatively lower cost delta.

(Images by Avishek Mitra/IBNS and Reporting by Supriyo Hazra)