as bse 500477 nse ashokley industry automotive founded 7 september 1948 headquarters chennai tamil nadu india area served worldwide key people dheeraj hinduja chairman products automobiles engines commercial vehicles revenue 206.58 billion us 3.1 billion 2016 net income 10.98 billion us 160 million 2016 number of employees 11 552 2014 1 parent hinduja group subsidiaries ennore foundries limited automotive coaches and components limited gulf ashley motors limited ashley holdings limited ashley investments limited ashley design and engineering services ades avia ashok leyland ashok leyland defence systems alds ashok leyland project services limited lanka ashok leyland plc 2 website www.ashokleyland.com ashok leyland is an indian automobile manufacturing company headquartered in chennai india . founded in 1948 it is the 2nd largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in india 4th largest manufacturer of buses in the world and 16th largest manufacturer of trucks globally . operating six plants ashok leyland also makes spare parts and engines for industrial and marine applications . it sells about 60 000 vehicles and about 7 000 engines annually . it is the second largest commercial vehicle company in india in the medium and heavy commercial vehicle m & hcv segment with a market share of 28 % 2007 08 . with passenger transportation options ranging from 19 seaters to 80 seaters ashok leyland is a market leader in the bus segment . the company claims to carry more than 60 million passengers a day more people than the entire indian rail network . in the trucks segment ashok leyland primarily concentrates on the 16 ton to 25 ton range of trucks . however ashok leyland has presence in the entire truck range starting from 7.5 tons to 49 tons . with a joint venture with nissan motors of japan the company made its presence in the light commercial vehicle lcv segment 7.5 tons . ashok leyland s uk subsidiary optare has shut down its bus factory in blackburn lancashire . 3 this subsidiary s traditional home in leeds has also been vacated in favour of a purpose built plant at sherburn in elmet . contents 1 history 1.1 ashok motors 1.2 under leyland 1.3 under iveco and hinduja partnership 1.4 hinduja group 2 products 2.1 trucks and buses 2.1.1 early vehicles 2.1.1.1 comet 2.1.1.2 titan 2.1.1.3 hino engine 2.1.1.4 iveco partnership 2.1.2 current range 2.1.2.1 u truck 2.1.2.2 dost 2.1.2.3 boss 2.2 minivan 2.2.1 stile 3 subsidiary ventures 3.1 construction equipment 3.2 nissan ashok leyland 3.3 ashok leyland defence systems 4 ashok leyland foreign operations 4.1 lanka ashok leyland 4.2 avia 4.3 optare 5 technology 5.1 hythane engines 5.2 cng engines 5.3 nissan partnership 5.4 hybrid technology 5.5 ibus 5.6 quality 6 financials 7 exports 8 facilities 8.1 manufacturing units 8.1.1 india 8.1.2 europe 8.1.3 middle east 8.2 technical centre 8.3 former manufacturing units 9 products 9.1 current buses 9.2 goods segment 10 see also 11 references 12 external links history edit ashok motors edit ashok motors was founded in 1948 by raghunandan saran an indian freedom fighter from punjab . 4 after independence he was persuaded by india s first prime minister nehru to invest in modern industrial venture . ashok motors was incorporated in 1948 as a company to assemble and manufacture austin cars from england and the company was named after the founder s only son ashok saran . the company had its headquarters in rajaji saalai chennai then madras with the plant in ennore a small fishing hamlet in the north of chennai . the company was engaged in assembly and distribution of austin a40 passenger cars in india . under leyland edit sometime later raghunandan saran died in an air crash prior to that he had been negotiating with leyland motors of england for assembly of commercial vehicles as he envisioned commercial vehicle were more in need at that time than were passenger cars . the company later under madras state government and other shareholders finalised for an investment and technology partner and thus leyland motors joined in 1954 with equity participation changing the name of the company to ashok leyland . ashok leyland then started manufacturing commercial vehicles . under leyland s management with british expatriate and indian executives the company grew in strength to become one of india s foremost commercial vehicle manufacturers . the collaboration ended sometime in 1975 but the holding of british leyland now a major british auto conglomerate as a result of several mergers agreed to assist in technology which continued until the 1980s . post 1975 changes in management structures saw the company launch various advanced vehicles and pioneering innovations in the indian market with many of these models continuing to this day with numerous upgrades over the years . under iveco and hinduja partnership edit in 1987 the overseas holding by land rover leyland international holdings limited lrlih was taken over by a joint venture between the hinduja group the non resident indian transnational group and iveco part of the fiat group . ashok leyland s long term plan to become a global player by benchmarking global standards of technology and quality was soon firmed up . access to international technology and a us 200 million investment programme created a state of the art manufacturing base to roll out international class products . hinduja group edit in 2007 the hinduja group also bought out iveco s indirect stake in ashok leyland . the promoter shareholding now stands at 51 % . today the company is the flagship of the hinduja group a british based and indian originated trans national conglomerate after hindujas bought iveco s remaining ownership stakes . products edit trucks and buses edit early vehicles edit an ashok leyland best bus in mumbai . this bus has the hino engine . comet edit early products included the leyland comet bus which was a passenger body built on a truck chassis sold in large numbers to many operators in india . by 1963 the comet was operated by every state transport undertaking in india and over 8 000 were in service . it was soon joined in production by a version of the leyland tiger . titan edit in 1968 production of the leyland titan ceased in britain but was restarted by ashok leyland in india . the titan pd3 chassis was modified and a five speed heavy duty constant mesh gearbox was used together with the ashok leyland version of the o. 680 engine . the ashok leyland titan was very successful and continued in production for many years . hino engine edit during early 80 s ashok leyland entered into a collaboration with japanese company hino motors from whom technology for the h series engines was sourced . many indigenous versions of h series engine were developed with 4 and 6 cylinders and also conforming to bs2 bs3 & bs4 emission standards in india . these engines proved to be extremely popular with the customers primarily for their excellent fuel efficiency . most current models of ashok leyland come with h series engines . iveco partnership edit in late 1980s iveco investment and partnership resulted in ashok leyland launching the cargo range of trucks based on european ford cargo trucks . the cargo entered production in 1994 at ashok leyland s new plant in hosur southeast of bengaluru . 5 these vehicles used iveco engines and for the first time had factory fitted cabs . though the cargo trucks are no longer in production and the use of iveco engine was discontinued the cab continues to be used on the ecomet range of trucks as well as for several of ashok leyland s military vehicles . the cargo was originally introduced in 7 and 9 long tons 7 100 and 9 100 kg versions ; later on heavier duty models from 15 to 26 long tons 15 200 to 26 400 kg were progressively introduced . 6 current range edit ashok leyland s modern truck with factory built g 90 new gen cab . ashok leyland s entry into light commercial vehicle segment with dost ashok leyland stile mpv u truck edit ashok leyland announced sale of vehicles on the new u truck platform from november 2010 with the rolling out of the first set of 10 models of tippers and tractor trailers in the 16 49 tonne segment . further another 15 models are set to enter the market in the next 12 months . dost edit the dost is a 1.25 ton light commercial vehicle lcv that is the first product to be launched by the indian japanese commercial vehicle joint venture ashok leyland nissan vehicles . dost is powered by a 58 hp high torque 3 cylinder turbo charged common rail diesel engine and has a payload capacity of 1.25 tonnes . it is available in both bs3 and bs4 versions . the bodywork and some of the underpinnings relate to nissan s c22 vanette of the 1980s ; this is most visible in the door design . the lcv is being produced in ashok leyland s hosur plant in tamil nadu . the lcv is available in three versions with the top end version featuring air conditioning power steering dual colour of a beige gray trim and fabric seats . with the launch of dost ashok leyland has now entered the light commercial vehicle segment in india 7 8 9 10 11 boss edit boss is an intermediate commercial vehicle launched by ashok leyland . this is available in the range of 8t to 14t . this is available with two engine options 120il le and 130crs lx engines and both are first time such an engines are offered in this range of trucks . the lx variant is available with air condition and leymatic amt which are again the industry first . minivan edit stile edit stile is amulti purpose vehicle which was manufactured by ashok leyland . the vehicle was unveiled during 2012 auto expo and was launched in july 2013 . stile was marketed as a multi purpose vehicle for use as a hotel shuttle taxi ambulance panel van and in courier service . in may 2015 ashok leyland stopped production due to low demand . 12 13 14 15 subsidiary ventures edit construction equipment edit furthermore in june 2009 the company expanded into the fastest growing construction equipment segment with a 50 50 joint venture with john deere . floated as separate entity under the name of leyland deere limited . 16 nissan ashok leyland edit in 2007 the company announced a joint venture with japanese auto giant nissan renault nissan group which will share a common manufacturing facility in chennai india . the shareholding structures of the three joint venture companies are ashok leyland nissan vehicles pvt. ltd. the vehicle manufacturing company will be owned 51 % by ashok leyland and 49 % by nissan nissan ashok leyland powertrain pvt. ltd. the powertrain manufacturing company will be owned 51 % by nissan and 49 % by ashok leyland nissan ashok leyland technologies pvt. ltd. the technology development company will be owned 50 50 by the two partners . dr. v. sumantran executive vice chairman of hinduja automotive limited and a director on the board of ashok leyland is the chairman of the powertrain company and he is on the boards of the other two jv companies . the venture once it takes off will be one of the largest investments made in automotive field in the country ashok leyland defence systems edit an ashok leyland stallion 4x4 army truck in himalayas an indian road mobile launcher with a ballistic missile ashok leyland s stallion kavach 4x4 mine protection armoured vehicle ashok leyland defence systems alds is a newly floated company by the hinduja group . ashok leyland the flagship company of hinduja group holds 26 percent in the newly formed ashok leyland defence systems alds . the newly floated company has a mandate to design and develop defence logistics and tactical vehicles defence