“This year, we have six versions of the Dost lined up. We will launch one model every alternate month starting this month-end,” Amandeep Singh, president, LCV, international operations, defence and power solutions at Ashok Leyland, told ET. “This will come with varied payload, technology, and volume capacity.”
Dost is a range of pick-up trucks.
“Our target is to get to 25% (market share in LCVs) in the short term over the next two years’ time,” Singh said, pointing out that the company has been benefitting from the upward shift in the tonnage – from sub-2-tonne to 2-3.5 tonne in the market. LCVs is the largest sub-segment of the light truck segment. India’s light truck market, dominated by Mahindra & Mahindra, comprises small commercial vehicles – those with a gross vehicle weight (GVW) of less than two tonnes and those with GVW that ranges from 2 to 3.5 tonnes.
While Tata Motors is still the second largest by volume in the overall LCV segment, it has lost ground to Ashok Leyland that sells the Dost and Bada Dost branded light trucks in the 2-3.5 tonne, Singh said. Leyland does not have a presence in the sub-2 tonne segment where Tata Motors sells the Ace branded small and light trucks.
Overall sales of light trucks in the domestic market crimped to around 542,000 units in FY24 from 559,000 units a year earlier on weaker rural demand and other factors. But Ashok Leyland – the third largest in the pecking order behind M&M and Tata Motors – saw its share in the market climb up to 12.10% from 11.74% and volumes inch up to 65,678 units from 65,654 units in the same period, shows data from Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.
Market leader M&M also saw an over 300-basis points gain, cornering 46.32% while Tata Motors’ share dropped to 32.45% from 35.71% in the same period.
Singh is confident that the forecast of a good monsoon, revival in rural sales and change in consumption pattern from bulk to packaged, is likely to boost overall light truck sales in India in the coming months.
To boost its overall presence, last month the Hinduja Group’s EV making arm, Switch Mobility, launched an electrified version of the 3.5-tonne Bada Dost in five metros and is now preparing to launch the electrified version of the brand with lower GVW, Singh said.
Meanwhile, plans are afoot to enter the competitive Asean market with the LCVs where Japanese brands dominate. Ashok Leyland has been selling the Dost under the Phoenix brand in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and GCC countries.