MS Dhoni To Drive Ashok Leyland Trucks!


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As corny as the title of this thread sound's,another cricketer will laugh all the way to bank.
Today countries second largest CV maker announced that they have roped in the Super star cricketer MS Dhoni to endorse their product, the first television ad will be aired today.

This is what MSD has to say at the event:
“As a young boy from a small town, I have spent a lot of time traveling on buses and have seen trucks and truckers at close quarters. I understand the importance of transport and logistics to the development of our country. It is a privilege to become a part of the Ashok Leyland family that with its products and services is helping people move to better lives.”

Read more: Ashok Leyland announces M S Dhoni as its brand ambassador | WheelsUnplugged
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
Commenting on the signing, Vinod K Dasari, Managing Director, Ashok Leyland said,
“Mahi’s choice was almost automatic for I cannot think of another person befitting the values of Brand Ashok Leyland so well. A true son-of-the-soil, a leader who is focused, straight-thinking, passionate and, most of all, humble, he will lead the numerous initiatives that are on the anvil. Our association with Mahi comes at a most opportune time. Our future-ready U-Truck range has already started to make its presence felt in the market with the innovative 8x2 on the anvil. Our Jan Bus, the world’s first single-step, front engine fully flat floor bus will soon hit the market. We have also been aggressively expanding our market reach. We believe that all these efforts will help enhance customer profitability to a new level.”
Source:
Ashok Leyland announces M S Dhoni as its brand ambassador | WheelsUnplugged
 
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Re: MS DHONI to drive Ashok Leyland Truck's

It didn't touch me, I was expecting MSD to drive it. Not sure about the target audience though.
 
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Re: MS DHONI to drive Ashok Leyland Truck's

I don't think Ashok Leyland really requires a TV serial to promote their trucks, unless they are promoting some new model, because trucks are not something which every common man can buy unlike a car or bike. even if someone wants to buy a truck, they would have their choices ready and not from seeing a TV ad
 
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Re: MS DHONI to drive Ashok Leyland Truck's

I don't think Ashok Leyland really requires a TV serial to promote their trucks, unless they are promoting some new model, because trucks are not something which every common man can buy unlike a car or bike. even if someone wants to buy a truck, they would have their choices ready and not from seeing a TV ad
completely agree with you, People who buys trucks they mostly buy it from the so called dalaals so no point in advertising their trucks and well it didn't touch me either and I don't feel it will touch others too. MS Dhoni is a waste in this advertisement. DHONI play cricket and stop endorsing stuff !
 
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It has taken the country’s second-largest commercial vehicle maker 60 years to shed its reticence. Apart from a high profile brand campaign, the makeover also involves a series of product rollouts.

M S Dhoni, all 100 meters of him, welcomes you to the 10-storeyed glass-fronted Ashok Leyland (ALL) headquarters on Chennai’s Sardar Patel Road. In fact, India’s Captain Cool is everywhere in the swanky office – inside lifts and outside work stations. The posters of a smiling Dhoni doing Namaste are the country’s second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer’s (turnover: Rs 12,841 crore) way of breaking its silence.
Alok Saraogi, ALL’s head, brand and marketing communications, agrees the company has been “shy” in the past. “But we have now decided to be more market-facing as we look to scale new markets and segments,” he adds. Saraogi is walking the talk, which explains the company’s decision to launch what is its second brand campaign in 60 years. The first one was a more sedate affair – a brief campaign featuring a father who brings a truck-shaped cake on his son’s birthday. That was six years ago.
Industry observers say the latest brand makeover efforts are in response to competition. It may be a coincidence that Dhoni’s brand ambassadorship was announced the same day ALL said that its market share in 2011-12 has dropped to 23 per cent from 26 per cent a year ago. That’s not all. ALL’s net profit declined over 13 per cent year-on-year to Rs 258.73 crore in the March 2012 quarter. Besides, its sales were up just 8.4 per cent, which is less than the average increase of 10 per cent over the last three years.
Besides, experts say ALL has to keep doing new things as it is more vulnerable than its competitors. Since it deals purely in commercial vehicles, it is more dependent on macroeconomic factors than peers such as Tata Motors or Mahindra and Mahindra who also sell cars and two-wheelers.
ALL begs to differ. Managing Director Vinod Dasari says the national campaign featuring Dhoni is a part of the company’s drive for transformation. In fact, in April 2012, ALL’s market share increased to 27.5 per cent as compared to 26.3 per cent during the same period last year, Dasari adds.
One of the main objectives of the campaign is to tell the world that ALL is a South-headquartered company with national ambitions and not a “South Indian company”. The company, which has a stronghold in southern markets, now wants to be aggressive in the northern and eastern regions. “Cricket is a national religion and Dhoni is a reigning deity. That makes the advertisement nationally relevant,” Saraogi says.
Dasari agrees. However, he knows that putting Dhoni near the trucks on television alone will not sell the products. What is required is greater focus on customer — fleet owners, drivers and mechanics who are all part of the new campaign.
The campaign seems to have been timed well as it comes just ahead of ALL’s new set of rollouts in the medium and heavy commercial vehicles space. ALL is planning to launch a new range of products including the Jan Bus, the world’s first single-step, front engine fully flat floor bus. Besides, the company will also bring Avia’s cabins during the second half of this financial year, which will be rolled out from its Pantnagar plant. The company has entered the construction equipment sector along with American major John Deere.
ALL is also betting big on its light commercial vehicle product, Dost, which was developed along with its Japanese partner Nissan last year and marked the company’s entry into the robustly growing segment. “We are very happy to see the performance of Dost,” says Dasari. The company sold 7,760 units of Dost last year, helping it clock 29 per cent market share in the markets (Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan) where it was launched and 16.6 per cent nationwide market share in 2-3.5T segment.
“We are seeing good response for the product and our backlog is three months now, so we have to increase our production capacity from 100 units a day to 150 units”. The company has set a target to sell 36,000 LCVs in the next fiscal. ALL-Nissan is also planning a greenfield facility, near Chennai.
Several other small changes are also being made. For example, earlier, ALL’s chassis were driven all the way to the body building shop from the factory, which means the tyres and batteries went through a lot of wear and tear. Now the chassis are mounted on a trailer and sent to the body shops. So, the tyres and batteries are not used and the customer gets a brand new vehicle in the true sense.
So as per ALL’s new idiom: the stadium is all dressed up, the players are out in the field and the match is about to begin.

Source:
Ashok Leyland breaks its silence
 
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Hinduja Group flagship company Ashok Leyland has won an order for 50 vestibule buses from the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) under the Indian Line of Credit (LoC) scheme offered for improvement of urban transportation in that country. The order, worth around $6 million (Rs 33 crore), is the company’s first for such buses from an overseas market.

An agreement to this effect was signed by the Chairman of BRTC and Antony Lobo, Special Director-International Operations, Ashok Leyland was signed at Dhaka.

Vinod K Dasari, managing director, Ashok Leyland, said, “This represents an important step towards achieving our Vision to be globally among the top-10 truck and top-5 bus manufacturers. We were the first to introduce vestibule buses in India and now are excited

About introducing this vehicle in Bangladesh and help take urban transportation there to a new level in partnership with BRTC, with whom we share a long and mutually beneficial relationship.”
Over the years, the Company has exported more than 9,500 vehicles (of different models) to Bangladesh through their sole dealer, Ifad Autos Ltd.
Last year, Ashok Leyland had bagged the single largest order for 290 Double-Decker buses worth $ 23.3 million from the country which was one of the contributory factors in boosting the Company’s exports to a new high of 12,852 vehicles reflecting a growth of 25%.

Ashok Leyland bags $6 mn order from Bangladesh
 
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Re: MS DHONI to drive Ashok Leyland Truck's

The truck has square headlight on left (its right) and circle on right (on its left). Weird or photoshop ? [confused] Check the pic where dhonwa is shaking hands with AL person.
 
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Re: MS DHONI to drive Ashok Leyland Truck's

The truck has square headlight on left (its right) and circle on right (on its left). Weird or photoshop ? [confused] Check the pic where dhonwa is shaking hands with AL person.
Great observation, even i am very surprised could this be a manufacturing defect? I went through their entire vehicle range just to see if i can find a model with 2 different headlamp design's but couldn't find one, If it is photoshoped what could be the reason?
 
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Ashok Leyland announced it had supplied 100 of its ‘Falcon’ brand buses to Ghana against an order worth $7.6 million (Rs 42 crore).

The buses were inducted into the fleet of Metro Mass Transit Ltd, a transport company, for both inter-city and intra-city applications on 360 routes through Ghana, said the Hinduja Group company. The government of Ghana has 45 per cent stake in Metro Mass Transit.
Vinod K Dasari, managing director, Leyland, said, “Africa has been one of our key focus markets and presents some unique opportunities for a commercial vehicle manufacturer like us.” The buses, he said, had a ‘premium status’ in the Bus Rapid System in Lagos, Nigeria, “the only such model in sub-Saharan Africa”.
With the Ghana delivery, Leyland became the first commercial vehicle manufacturer to introduce a mechanical inline fuel injection with a Euro-III engine and electronic destination board in Ghana, added the company. This was the second major launch by Leyland in Ghana, after the induction of 160 waste management trucks last year.

Source:
Ashok Leyland delivers 100 buses to Ghanaian firm
 

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Ashok Leyland Defence Systems (ALDS), which is engaged in the manufacture of specialised tactical and armoured vehicles, has unveiled the Stallion Kavach, an Armoured Troop Carrier (ATC), at the IFSEC and Homeland Security India Exhibition at Greater Noida. The Stallion Kavach will add to the range of tactical and armoured transport solutions from ALDS.

“It is a fact that insurgency and the threat of terrorism in several parts of our country means that there is a need for high-performance, specialised tactical and armoured vehicles and Ashok Leyland Defence Systems is well positioned to leverage technologies and partnerships to address these requirements,” said Dr V Sumantran, chairman, ALDS. The new ATC has been customised for the country’s para-military and police forces.

Built on the tested and proven Stallion platform and indigenously developed, the Kavach has protection levels of NIJ Level III for the crew compartment and 2 HE grenades under the floor. Configured as a 4x4 all-wheel drive, the Stallion Kavach is powered by a 135kW engine. Safety is addressed through a solid blast protection body to protect troops against a blast of 5kg of explosives from a distance of 30 metres and can seat at least 12 personnel, including the driver, on special fragment-protected seats. The ATC is provided with 12 self-locking gun ports, a 360deg rotatable turret with view port and gun mount, one rear roof hatch for emergency exit and specialised lighting and communication systems.


The Kavach, which is built on the Stallion platform, can be modified into a command post, communication vehicle, an ambulance or even a bomb disposal vehicle.
 

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