Ashok Leyland to roll out Neptune engine this year

Hinduja Group's flagship company Ashok Leyland will roll out this year its much-awaited completely electronically governed Neptune engine, globally benchmarked for lower operating costs.

"(The launch will be) sometime this year. It is going through trials now," Ashok Leyland Managing Director Vinod K Dasari said.

The Chennai-based company has completed over 3-lakh km of field trials of the engine, developed in-house, and the "market launch will happen sometime this year...We will look for the appropriate time...," Dasari told PTI.

The state-of-the-art Neptune engine would feature in the company's "U-Truck" platform.

According to company officials, the low-friction and high torque Neptune engines offer lower operating costs, longer life and better comfort.

The engines developed with technical assistance from AVL - an Austrian powertrain and combustion expert design house. They range from 160 to 380 HP and are entirely CRS electronic.

Ashok Leyland is targetting sale of 1.10 lakh units this fiscal and plans to ramp up production. The company had sold 94,397 units last year.

During the April-June 2012 period, the company's total vehicle sales increased by 42.59 per cent to 27,487 units, including 2,904 for exports, from 19,277 units in the same period last year.