About Ashok Leyland
Ashok Leyland is one of the engines of the Indian economy in the most literal sense. Founded in the late 1940s and based in Chennai, it began by assembling vehicles before forming a partnership with Britain's Leyland Motors, whose name it still carries. Today it is controlled by the Hinduja Group and ranks among India's largest makers of trucks and buses, alongside Tata Motors. Its trucks and buses are as much a part of the Indian roadscape as the potholes they shrug off.
Its vehicles are everywhere in India: heavy haulage trucks on the national highways, tippers at construction sites, intercity and city buses, light commercial vehicles such as the Dost, and military trucks for the Indian armed forces. The company also has a strong export business in the Middle East, Africa and neighboring South Asian markets, and it has been a major supplier of buses to state transport undertakings. Few Indians have not ridden in one of its buses at some point.
Ashok Leyland's electric ambitions run through Switch Mobility, which builds electric buses and light commercial vehicles for India and other markets. Electric trucks for ports and logistics corridors are also gaining ground. Rivals include Tata Motors, Eicher, BharatBenz and Mahindra, and its financing partnerships with banks are a reminder that in commercial vehicles, credit often decides the sale. This page tracks launches, monthly sales, financing deals, fleet orders, electric-vehicle news, exports and the results of one of India's industrial bellwethers.