AL makes Hino the principal Euro II platform

By K. T. Jagannathan

CHENNAI, JUNE 8. Ashok Leyland has decided to make Hino engines the principal Euro II platform for buses and trucks.

The Euro II Hino engines, developed in-house in technical tandem with AVL of Austria, will be offered in two versions - four litre and six litre. Both these versions will have three ratings - 166, 175 and 200.

There are over 75,000 Hino engines in the marketplace. This number is expected to cross the 100,000-mark by the end of the year. ``Hino engines are doing well in terms of fuel efficiency and performance,'' points out Mr. R. Seshasayee, Managing Director of the company. The haulage market has also undergone a major metamorphosis. From 10-12 tonne the base product moved up to 16 tonne and further to 22 tonne. So much so, the company, sometime ago, chose to offer Hino engines on the growing segment of the goods market - multi-axle segment. In the backdrop of satisfactory performance, Hino engines are now sought to be made the principal Euro II platform for buses and trucks.

Mr. Seshasayee, nevertheless, has made it clear that Hino will be the principal Euro II platform but not the exclusive platform. ``Ashok Leyland will continue to offer Leyland engines to those applications where it makes sense,'' he clarifies.

Hino Euro II vehicles - buses first and trucks later - will be launched during the current year. They are already field-tested.

The move to make Hino the principal Euro II platform comes even as Ashok Leyland is veering round not to pursue its proposed plan for joint venture to manufacture Iveco engines. The reasons are not far to seek. The company has developed both Leyland and Hino engines to Euro II levels.

With Ashok Leyland announcing Hino the principal Euro II platform, efforts are now under way to increase the production capacity at Hosur. Currently, it has a capacity to make 18,000 engines. In line with its focus on `mining more value', it has managed to produce around 25,000 engines. It is now proposing to add another 30,000 engines to the capacity by investing close to Rs. 45 crores. The capacity expansion will be over by the end of next fiscal. Ashok Leyland is proposing to make use of the flexible Iveco production line to beef up Hino capacity. This is to be done via adding some conversion equipment.

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