Hinduja Group launches its first vehicle, The Dost

The Hinduja Group, a joint venture between Ashok Leyland and  unveiled their first product in the small commercial vehicle segment, the Dost. The first mass production vehicle rolled out of the plant on the 22 nd of July at the Honsur plant, 2011 and would be available to its customers in this quarter through a new dealer network.

Dr. Andy Palmer, Executive Vice President, Nissan Motor Company Ltd & Chairman, Ashok Leyland Nissan Vehicles Ltd. said, “Ashok Leyland and Nissan have remained faithful to the vision of joining forces to create value for the Indian business customer. Our aim was to combine our expertise and experience to create high quality, global standard products with affordable technologies, and with relevance to today’s Indian market. Our vision is now becoming a reality with the first DOST coming off the production line. We are confident that DOST, and future products from our partnership with Ashok Leyland, will contribute to the success of many businesses in India.”

Mr. V .Sumantran, Executive Vice Chairman, Hinduja Automotive Ltd. and Chairman, Nissan Ashok Leyland Powertrain Ltd. also added, “This is a very important milestone in the journey of the Ashok Leyland – Nissan Joint Venture. DOST is the first physical manifestation of our association and a matter of great pride for us as this marks the fruition of a project that started effectively in 2008. The Indian SCV customer is fast evolving and becoming increasingly demanding, apart from fuel efficiency and durability,  about other attributes like drivability, power, comfort, safety, loading capacity and even styling and we are confident that DOST has been well engineered to offer the Indian customer, a new level of experience hitherto unavailable in India. We have endeavored to listen carefully to Indian SCV customers and offer them, with the DOST, our best product.”

The Dost would be powered by a 1.5 liter, 3 cylinder, Common Rail Diesel Engine capable of ferry loads of up to 1.25 tonnes and has 55 horsepower with 150 Nm of torque and a five speed manual transmission. The Load Sensing Proportioning valve (LSPV) senses the load to ensure a stable braking.  Available in three trim versions, the top of the line Dost will be available with air-conditioning, power steering, dual-colour beige-gray trim and fabric seats and options of three colours to choose from namely white, beige and blue.