Ashok Leyland Ties Up With Nissan To Produce Trucks

Chennai, Aug 29 Ashok Leyland and Nissan Motor Co Ltd on Aug 29, inked heads of agreement for forming three joint venture companies to produce light commercial vehicles (LCV), powertrains and R&D. This includes giving Nissan with access to Ashok Leyland''s dealer network in India and permitting Ashok Leyland to use Nissan dealer networks in identified export markets outside India. The truck maker is close to unveiling a few high-capacity products, perhaps even a 49-tonne truck with a payload capacity of 40 tonnes.

Although Ashok Leyland has not declared the range of trucks its joint venture with Nissan will produce, it will presumably be those in sub-6 tonne range. Today, multi-axle vehicles dominate the movement of goods between cities and with several cities restricting entry of big trucks during daytime, there is bound to be a demand for LCVs to take the cargo into cities. In July, the company declared two joint ventures one with Alteams of Finland for high-pressure dies castings and another with Siemens VDO for electronic components for vehicles.