70 Years Of Ashok Leyland

The 70-year journey of Ashok Leyland is interesting in how it has helped the country industrialise.

- Bhargav TS

The second largest CV maker in India has turned 70 years old. Tracing its journey to 1948 when it began producing Austin cars under license in India as Ashok Motors, the CV maker has come a long way. As the fourth largest manufacturer of buses in the world, and 12th largest manufacturer of trucks, the company inked an agreement with Leyland of UK to import, assemble and progressively manufacture Leyland trucks in 1950. Founded by Raghunandan Saran (a freedom fighter from Punjab) and named after his son Ashok, Ashok Motors rolled out the first Leyland chassis from the Ennore plant in the form of Comet 350 in 1951. The first four Comet 350 trucks were sold to the Mangalore Tile Factory. Taking to manufacture trucks along side the manufacture of Austin cars in the early fifties, Ashok Leyland has grown exponentially in the last seven decades. It has achieved many patents for its innovations according to Vinod K. Dasari, the managing director of the company.