Ashok Leyland, the Indian flagship of the Hinduja group, performed the ground-breaking ceremony to set up a new integrated commercial vehicle plant focused on green mobility in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday.

In a ceremony held at the new factory site at Kanpur Road, Lucknow, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, laid the foundation stone.

The greenfield manufacturing facility, spread over 70 acres, will produce electric buses. It will also have the capability to produce other vehicles powered by existing and other emerging alternative fuels.

Once operational, the plant will be able to produce 2500 vehicles a year. Ashok Leyland plans to expand this capacity to 5,000 annually over the next decade.

Automobile forum

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) along with the Bangladesh Automobiles Assemblers and Manufacturers Association, the Ceylon Motor Traders’ Association, Sri Lanka, and the NADA Automobiles Association of Nepal have recently formed a South Asian Automobile Forum on the sidelines of the Bharat Global Mobility Expo earlier this month.

Vinod Aggarwal, SIAM president, said, “The automobile sector plays a significant role in the economic development of South Asian countries, and there is great potential for synergies and mutual growth with closer collaboration in this sector.”

Renault rural reach

Renault India and BLS E-Services have formalised a memorandum of understanding to enhance the availability and accessibility of Renault’s new 2024 range of the Kwid, Triber and Kiger in rural India.

Sudhir Malhotra, vice-president of sales and marketing at Renault India, said: “Rural India holds great potential for us, and through our collaboration with BLS E-Services, we aspire to deepen our presence in these markets.”