• Lucknow facility: The 70-acre plant is designed for electric vehicles and is Ashok Leyland’s greenest facility. Investment is planned up to 500 crore, with 250 crores or more already invested in the first phase.
• Margin pressure: Commodity inflation has prompted price hikes in January, April, July and another in October, but not all cost increases can be passed on. Management expects Q3 inflation to be worse than Q2, with possible stabilization in Q4; the ₹2,000 crore cost-reduction program is expected to have its larger impact in FY28.
• LCV expansion: Ashok Leyland aims to increase its participation from 50, 55% of the LCV market to about 80 to 90%, with plans to be finalized within the next couple of quarters. Management also sees LCV as a major growth opportunity and expects to finalize its plans in the next 3 to 6 months.
• Defence growth: Revenue has risen from 400 crore to 1,200 crore, and the company aims to reach 2,500 crore over the next 3 years. It is evaluating drones, unmanned ground vehicles and radars, and expects to shortlist a couple of areas.
• EV localization: The target is more than 80% localization in India within the next 5 to 6 years, with packs planned by end of next year and cells under evaluation. Near-term priorities are maturing technology to lower TCO and building supply-chain resilience, rather than chasing EV volumes.