BUILDING THE BRAND
For more than six decades, Indian-based commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland has been moving people and goods in countries across the world. Felicity Landon reports on the latest developments.
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uilding a brand – and maintaining it – is always a challenge. Ashok Leyland (AL) tackled this challenge with the recent signing up of the iconic Indian cricket captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, as brand ambassador. “He fitted the values of Brand Ashok Leyland very well: grounded, a true son of the soil, passionate, straight-thinking and a leader,” says Vinod K. Dasari, the company’s managing director. “He is the face of a robust communication campaign and leads a slew
of marketing initiatives. Dhoni’s recognition transcends regional and linguistic barriers and gives traction to AL’s ambitions to be a stronger global brand.” Ashok Leyland, one of India’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturers, certainly has a strong base to build on. Its buses carry 70 million passengers every day. Nearly 700,000 AL commercial vehicles are on the roads. And the company is the largest supplier of logistics vehicles to the Indian Army. Head-
quartered in Chennai, AL is the flagship of the Hinduja Group, a transnational conglomerate, which owns a 50.98 per cent stake in AL. In recent years, AL has maintained its position of pre-eminence in the Indian commercial vehicle (CV) sector and protected its pole position in the bus segment, while continuing its pioneering efforts to redefine the Indian CV industry, says Vinod Dasari. “What has changed, however, is that firstly, we have become a ‘full range player’
