Shares of automobiles companies are on a roll with Hero MotoCorp, Ashok Leyland and TVS Motor Company touching their respective 52-week highs on the BSE in intra-day today.

The S&P BSE Auto index ended up 1% at 17,731 as compared to 0.18% rise in the S&P BSE Sensex which ended at 25,330. Thus far in March, auto index rallied 12% against 10% gain in the benchmark index.

New Delhi: Ashok Leyland Ltd, India’s second-largest truck maker by sales, is planning to wrap up 23 of its 27 joint ventures in a bid to cut its debt and focus on core businesses, a top company executive said.

“What’s the point of having a joint venture if you are losing money in it? And we have too many of them. We plan to wrap up 23 of 27 joint ventures in the near term as the company plans to focus on its core business,” the Ashok Leyland executive said on condition of anonymity.

New Delhi: The unravelling of an agreement between top executives of Ashok Leyland Ltd and Nissan Motor Co. to end their alliance led to the Indian company suing its Japanese partner in the first week of February, two Ashok Leyland executives said.

Around Rs.200 crore vendor liability figures quoted by Nissan are not in the joint venture’s books, one of these executives said, adding the overall liability figures are only around Rs.700 crore, far less than Rs.1,200 crore quoted by Nissan. Both executives requested anonymity.

Ashok Leyland plans to expand its bus manufacturing plant in Ras Al Khaimah, Middle East in order to double production capacity.

Shaikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Member of the UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, laid the foundation stone for the $10 million expansion project on Thursday.

Hinduja Group flagship firm Ashok Leyland today reported a 25% increase in total sales at 13,403 units in February.

The company had sold 10,762 units in the same month last year.

Ashok Leyland's has alleged that Nissan has used a part of equipment imported under Export Promotion of Capital Goods (EPCG) scheme to manufacture products other than that of the JV.

An affidavit filed by Ashok Leyland, and accessed by Business Standard, states that the Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) made an inspection at the site of Renault Nissan Automotive India Pvt Ltd (RNAIPL) and found that certain EPCG assets being wrongfully used by RNAIPL for manufacturing cars for Nissan like Sunny and others.

Commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland (ALL) on Friday said it is in the process of setting up two to three assembling units for buses and trucks in African countries.

The company, which is of the view that having local manufacturing or assembling footprint across the countries makes for a major impact, will also be looking at South America and South East Asian countries to set up assembling units in near future.

Commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland has slapped a notice on its joint venture partner Nissan, alleging that it is using the equipment, installed at Nissan's factory at Oragadam, to manufacture cars, while it needs to be used to produce light commercial vehicles (LCVs). Ashok Leyland and Nissan are partners in a JV to manufacture LCVs.

The development comes few days after Ashok Leyland's MD Vinod Dasari said that his was looking at 'win-win' solution for both the companies.

NEW DELHI: Hinduja Group flagship firm Ashok Leyland today reported 30.47 per cent increase in total sales at 13,886 units in January.

The company had sold 10,643 units in the same month last year.

Shares of Ashok Leyland were up over 1% at Rs 92 on the Bombay Stock Exchange in an otherwise weak market after the company announced that it has received an order from the Zimbabwe government.

The order for 680 Vehicles and Spare Parts, worth US $50 million is from the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Government of Republic of Zimbabwe, the company said in a release.

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