Commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland Ltd. sees demand for commercial vehicles rising before April when Bharat Stage-IV emission norms would be mandatory for all vehicles across the country, Managing Director Vinod Dasari told BloombergQuint in an exclusive chat on Thursday.
While the Indian automobile industry at large has seen a revival in demand in the current financial year after its worst slowdown ever from 2012 through 2015, sales of heavy commercial vehicles are yet to see a pick-up. Ashok Leyland's total sales contracted by 18 percent year-on-year during September, according to a company press release. But Dasari is hopeful for the remainder of the fiscal as he expects sales to pick up before April.
Speaking about the company's questionable foray into the passenger vehicles segment in 2013, Dasari said the company had no plans to do that again, and instead would concentrate on manufacturing only commercial vehicles.
Stile (Ashok Leyland's first and only passenger vehicle) was a mistake.Vinod Dasari, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland
Ashok Leyland, which has chalked out ambitious plans in the defence sector, wants to move on from being only a transporter of infantry to a holistic logistics solution provider to the forces, which would include vehicles to ferry missiles and larger equipment, too, said Dasari.
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