Ashok Leyland, the India based automobile manufacturing firm with its headquarters at Chennai, happens to be the second largest commercial vehicle maker in the country. Established in 1948, this successful firm deals in the production of commercial vehicles like buses and trucks. Ashok Leyland, a part of the Hinduja Group is also involved into the production of emergency and military vehicles. The company is going to launch its Multi Purpose Vehicle, named Stile on 9th of October, marking a foray of Ashok Leyland into the passenger car segment. This offering comes as a joint venture with Nissan-Renault after the launch of Dost, the 1.5 tonne Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) in 2011.
Stile is a multi-purpose people mover and will be placed in the LCV range. The car is expected to get modified headlamps and a new grille. Industry experts are of a view that these vehicles target commercial consumers, who wish to use passenger cars such as taxis, ambulances and courier vans. Reportedly, this vehicle will be produced at the manufacturing unit of Nissan in Oragadam.
Interestingly, both the companies have plans to launch a range of LCV vehicles, targeting a variety of consumers under the tags of Nissan and Ashok Leyland. Other vehicles slated for launch in the coming future are Ashok Leyland Partner and N-truck, along with new variants of Stile and Dost. "Though they might play in the same segment, the products will be targeting different customers, will have differentiated features and will be in different price points," said Carlos Ghosn, CEO, Nissan Renault Alliance. The Stile happens to be an important project for the company and a lot of effort has been put in so as to turn it into a successful venture. As of now, it will be available as a seven seater vehicle in three different variants, namely petrol, diesel and CNG.
Stile is expected to get a spacious airy cabin, however, it loses out on some features of Evalia. The company is likely to bring out an eight seater variant too. In terms of pricing, Stile will be placed below the Evalia by Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 35,000. It gets the same powertrain as Evalia i.e 1.5-litre K9K diesel engine churning out a maximum power of 74 bhp and a torque of 185 Nm. The engine gets a 5-speed manual transmission system which transmits the power to its front wheels. Post launch in the Indian auto market, it is expected to compete with the likes of Chevrolet Enjoy, Maruti Suzuki Eeco and Chevrolet Tavera.
