Ashok Leyland launches fully-built premium bus

Ashok Leyland, the flagship of the Hinduja Group, Thursday launched a premium fully-built bus aimed at the staffing and tourism markets. The domestic bus market is around 40,000 units a year of which the staff bus category accounts for 10 percent.

With its new offering Oyster which is what they call an AC 'midi bus', the Chennai-based commercial vehicle manufacturer is looking to enlarge its pie in the overall bus segment, chief operating officer Anuj Kathuria said. Designed and built in-house at its Alwar facility, the 41- seater bus comes on a BS-IV-compliant engine.

"With Oyster, which is already a huge success in the international market, we intend to further our leadership positioning," Kathuria said. The company, however, did not disclose the price. Sanjay Saraswat, head of medium and heavy commercial vehicles business said, "increasingly commuters are spending more time on commuting and there is a need for comfortable and safe transport solutions. We hope to address this with the Oyster." PTI IAS BEN BEN.