OREANDA-NEWS. Ashok Leyland, the Hinduja Group flagship, commercially launched its first Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) - ‘Dost’ in Punjab & Chandigarh with the inauguration of two new dealerships: one in Ludhiana - Grover Automobiles Pvt. Ltd. and the other in Chandigarh - CMPL Motors Pvt. Ltd, both of which are 3S (Sales, Service and Spares) outlets equipped with state-of-the-art tools and modern infrastructure. Third dealership, Yashodha Automotives in Patiala, is also getting operational simultaneously. These dealerships form part of a new, contemporary and exclusive LCV network of 112 outlets set up across 18 markets where ‘Dost’ has been introduced thus far.

‘Dost’ marked the Company’s foray into the robustly growing LCV market through a joint venture with Nissan Motor Company. With a payload capacity of 1.25T, ‘Dost’ entered the Small Commercial Vehicle (SCV) market (below 3.5T) which has been witnessing a perceptible upward shift in terms of features, performance and payload. It is equipped with a state-of-the-art 58 hp, 3-cylinder 1.5 litre Common Rail TDCR engine that is tuned for fuel economy as well as for driveability and gradeability, required for Indian roads, thanks to substantial torque of 158 Nm. ‘Dost’ is able to easily negotiate both congested city roads and narrow rural lanes because of a tight turning circle radius of just 4.8 m. The customer will have a palette of four colors to choose from: White, Beige and Blue and Aqua Green.

Addressing media persons, Dr, V, Sumantran, Vice Chairman, Ashok Leyland, said, “We are proud to carry the huge success of ‘Dost’ in the markets it has been launched in thus far with an all India market share of 19%. ‘Dost’ has not only created a new category in the LCV space but has also been a growth driver in the pick-up segment. ‘Dost’ offers an unbeatable value proposition to our customers thereby making them more profitable and along with our new channel partners, we are confident of repeating its success story in this new market as well.”

Elaborating on the service levels, Dr. V. Sumantran, said, “We have endeavoured to make our service functions as customer-friendly as possible. Our track record of service retention levels is exemplary with close to 80% of our customers returning to our dealer workshops, even after the warranty period and going forward we are committed to maintaining and even enhancing this high level of customer service.”

Ashok Leyland will offer Ready-to-Use Vehicles (RUVs) on the ‘Dost’ platform for various applications such as Refrigerated containers, Steel containers, Ambulances, Cash vans and Service-At-Site vehicles. Simultaneously, plans are afoot to enhance the LCV portfolio with the introduction of new vehicles both in the goods and passenger segments.