Ashok Leyland, flagship of the Hinduja Group and India’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturer, in May 2022 announced their new distribution partnership with Export Trading Group’s (ETG) logistics, warehousing, and distribution vertical, ETG Logistics (ETGL). ETG is a global conglomerate operating across various segments, with a deep focus on uplifting Sub-Saharan Africa. An agreement was signed between the companies for the cooperation of the distribution of products in the Southern African region.
ETGL will operate dealerships for Ashok Leyland in six key Southern African countries as part of this strategic cooperation. In South Africa, 14 dealers have already been appointed while two dealers are already active in Zambia. The initial model line-up for Southern Africa will focus on the class-leading 1, 25-ton carrying capacity Dost pick-up, 1, 86-ton carrying capacity Phoenix pick-up, and 4, 5-ton Partner light truck.
Ashok Leyland, flagship of the Hinduja Group, is the 2nd largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles in India, the 4th largest manufacturer of buses in the world, and the 19th largest manufacturer of trucks. Being a US $ 4.5 billion company that has a 75-year legacy since 1948, and a footprint that extends across 50 countries, Ashok Leyland is one of the most fully integrated manufacturing companies in Asia.
The link to Leyland from the UK goes back to 1950 when the then Ashok Motors was granted import, assembly, and manufacturing rights for Leyland trucks. In 1955, the company name changed to Ashok Leyland.
Headquartered in Chennai with 9 manufacturing plants, Ashok Leyland boasts a product range from 2.5-ton to 55-ton in terms of size and from 13 seats to 79 seats in terms of capacity, giving the brand a 31% market share in the Indian Commercial Vehicle Market. Ashok Leyland has a well-diversified portfolio across the automobile industry and is the first truck and bus manufacturer outside of Japan to win the Deming Prize for Quality for its Pantnagar plant in 2016 and the Hosur Unit II in 2017.
The 1, 25-ton load carrying capacity Ashok Leyland Dost was the winner of the Apollo-CV ‘LCV Cargo Carrier of the Year Award’ in 2012. The jury highlighted Dost’s fuel economy, versatility, and higher payload as the winning attributes of this 1, 25-ton payload pick-up truck.
Ashok Leyland also won the design excellence award in 2021 for its Light Commercial Vehicle, the 1,86-ton load-carrying capacity Phoenix, in the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Design Excellence Awards under the category of ‘Mobility Design: Four Wheelers Commercial Vehicle’.
And in the light truck market, Ashok Leyland, was awarded the Frost and Sullivan 2020 GCC Light Commercial Vehicle Customer Value Leadership Award for its light truck, Partner.
