ASHOK LEYLAND ‘BADA DOST'

‘Bada Dost’ Marks a Significant Shift at Ashok Leyland with Global Aspirations to Boast Of.

- Bhushan Mhapralkar

Nearly a decade after the Dost LCV was launched in association with Nissan, Ashok Leyland has introduced an all-new LCV called the ‘Bada Dost’. As the name would suggest, the new vehicle builds on the legacy of the ‘Dost’, but is keen to chart its own route. With the pictures failing to do justice to its appearance and dimensions, the ‘Bada Dost’ is indeed quite ‘Bada’ or bigger than the ‘Dost’. It is in flesh that the visual expanse of the ‘Bada Dost’ is apparent. Wider (1750 to 1842 mm), taller (2061 to 2037 mm) and longer (5025 mm) than the Dost, the rounded ‘grilleless front profile of the ‘Bada Dost’ with those ‘Dost’-like (albeit bigger) headlamps makes a solid impression. An Ashok Leyland’s IPR product compared to ‘Dost’s’ IPR, which has certain limitations since it includes Nissan association, the ‘Bada Dost’ picks up from where the ‘Dost’ and ‘Dost+’ leave. There is a slight overlap when one considers the ‘Dost+’ and the 2.9-tonne GVW variant (with a 1460 kg payload) of the ‘Bada Dost’. However, beyond that there is little that is there to consider. The ‘Bada Dost’, as Nitin Seth, the chief operating officer of Ashok Leyland would like to put it, is all-new.

Blurring the gap between the segment that the Tata Intra, and the Mahindra Bolero is in, the ‘Bada Dost’ may point at a similar strategy that Ashok Leyland deployed when it introduced the ‘Dost’ in 2011. Seth however is of the opinion that the market placement of the ‘Bada Dost’ is based entirely on the market requirement.