Ashok Leyland to use Nissan-Renault’s Chennai facility

October 1st, 2009 CHENNAI - Japanese auto major Nissan Motors Thursday unveiled the first sketch of its global compact car to be manufactured in five countries including India. "We are serious and committed in our plans for India, and are all excited as we gear up to start production in May 2010," said Kiminobu Tokuyama, managing director and chief executive of Nissan Motor India.

October 1st, 2009 ALWAR - Commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland says it has not whittled down investments planned for this fiscal on account of the economic slowdown, and denied it had put the Rs.1,300-crore facility it was setting up at Pantnagar on the backburner. "We have reduced our capex by Rs.1,000 crore, but we are not cutting down on investments already planned," company executive director for marketing Rajive Saharia said at a media briefing here.

July 27th, 2009 MUMBAI - The net profit of Hinduja group's flagship company and commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland declined 84 percent to Rs.7.77 crore (Rs.77.7 million) in the first quarter this fiscal compared to Rs.50.5 crore it netted in the year-ago period. The total income decreased 48 percent to Rs.973 crore from Rs.1,895.3 crore, the company said in a regulatory statement Monday.

July 13th, 2009 CHENNAI - The country's second largest truck maker Ashok Leyland and the US-headquartered John Deere Construction and Forestry Company Monday announced floating of a 50:50 equal stake joint venture company to manufacture and market earthmoving equipments. The company Ashok Leyland John Deere Construction Equipment Private Limited will initially make backhoe and wheel loaders and will set up a plant near here, a company release said.

July 3rd, 2009 CHENNAI - Indias second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland is looking to spin off its design engineering unit Defiance Technologies into a group company, Defiance Tech Ltd, an official has said. Defiance Technologies offers virtual engineering services, ranging from basic design to high-end predictive analysis for auto makers.

June 4th, 2009 CHENNAI - Japanese auto major Nissan Motor Co Thursday said its partner Renault's decision to suspend investments in the joint venture's upcoming manufacturing facility near here would not affect the project's completion. French car maker Renault and Nissan have set up a 50:50 joint venture, Renault Nissan Automotive India, to set up a 400,000-car-per-annum plant at Oragadam, 55 km from here, at an investment of Rs.4,500 crore.

March 25th, 2009 CHENNAI - The Hinduja group's commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland Ltd, in association with Australia's Eden Energy, has developed a hythane-powered 92-KW engine, the company said Tuesday. Hythane is a blend of natural gas and hydrogen (usually 20 percent hydrogen by volume).

March 5th, 2009 CHENNAI - Commercial vehicles manufacturer Ashok Leyland Wednesday reported 57 percent year-on-year fall in its February sales. The company sold 3,245 units (domestic 2,669 and exports 576) last month, compared to 7,501 units (domestic 6,824 units and exports 677 units) in February 2008, an official statement said.

February 18th, 2009 CHENNAI - India's second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland will supply 500 more buses to Angola by March-end, taking the total order to 1,000 vehicles valued at $43.5 million, it said Thursday. According to the company, the order for the supply of an additional 500 mini buses - 50 being air-conditioned - was bagged last month.

February 12th, 2009 CHENNAI - Commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland is adopting a multi-pronged strategy, including cutting capital expenditure (capex), focussing on non-vehicle segment sales and floating a finance arm, to weather the tough market conditions, a top official said Friday. 'As against the budgeted capital expenditure of around Rs.33 billion (Rs.3,300 crore), we will be incurring about Rs.20 billion,' Ashok Leyland executive director (finance) K.

January 28th, 2009 CHENNAI - India's second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland has seen its turnover fall 44 percent in the quarter ended Dec 31 last year, compared to the corresponding period the previous year. The company closed the third quarter with revenue of Rs.10 billion and a net profit of Rs.188.68 million, as against Rs.18 billion and Rs.1.2 billion, respectively, the previous year.

January 27th, 2009 CHENNAI - Allison Transmission Inc., the US-based manufacturer of commercial duty transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems, will start production in India early next year, the company said here Wednesday. It will set up a 203,000 square foot plant at the Sipcot Industrial Estate near here, where it will make automatic transmissions and components for commercial vehicles, said Allison Transmission India managing director Ram Amarnath.

January 21st, 2009 CHENNAI - Commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland has bagged orders worth Rs.4.8 billion (Rs.480 crore) for 875 high-end ultra low entry (ULE) buses from Delhi Transport Corp (DTC), the company said Thursday. The Chennai-based vehicle manufacturer has also reached a Rs.7.1-billion contract with DTC for maintaining the buses for a period of 12 years.

January 11th, 2009 CHENNAI - Though its domestic sales have witnessed a steep fall, there is good news for India's second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland Limited, as it has bagged a export order from Honduras and Thailand, a senior official of the company said Monday. The company has bagged a $10.5 million order to supply 139 vehicles to Honduras Armed Forces (HAF) and the Royal Thai Army has approved purchase of 10 vehicles, the value of which is not known.

January 6th, 2009 CHENNAI - Commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland Ltd Wednesday reported a 63 percent fall in its December sales over the corresponding month previous year. In a statement, the company said it sold 2,321 units last month as against 6,340 units a year ago.