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Hindujas to rename Ashok Leyland
By siliconindia
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Saturday, 18 October 2008, 01:48 IST
Mumbai: The 53 year old brand synonymous with commercial and public transport in the country will soon see a name change. The new name would reflect its ownership by the Hinduja group. Hindujas who took over Ashok Leyland in 1987 will rename the brand as Hinduja Leyland in sync with the group's strategy, reported Financial Express. The strategy involves giving a common brand identity to various companies within the group.
The frame work for changing the brand name has been created by branding strategist Martin Lindstorm, while D'Cell, part of Lowe Lintas will be responsible for creating an identity manual and further implementation. A London based creative agency is also working on a new brand logo.
SP Hinduja during a recent interaction said that the group is working on revealing a new logo that will reflect the new directions taken by the group.
Other Hinduja ventures like HTMT Global Solutions are also likely to see a name change soon. The current business activity of the group in India comprise Ashok Leyland , Hinduja foundries , the largest jobbing foundry , Gulf oil, industrial explosives, Indusland bank, HTMT Global solutions and Hinduja ventures. History traces back to 1948 when Industrialist Raghunandan Saran was persuaded by the then PM Jawaharlal Nehru to enter into the automotive segment. In 1948 Ashok Motors was set up in Madras to assemble Austin cars. In 1955 when it started commercial vehicle production under the name Ashok Leyland, British Leyland took an equity participation in the company. The company has put over 5,00,000 vehicles on Indian roads.
1987 saw the overseas holding by Land Rover Leyland, which was taken over by joint venture between the Hinduja Group and Iveco of Italy, a fiat group company. In 2006 the Hindujas bought out indirect stake of Iveco in Ashok Leyland.
UK Headquartered Hinduja Automotive has big plans for their automotive division. Hindujas are also entering into the light commercial vehicle segment where it did not have presence in.
Hinduja foundries is targeting a turn over of $1 billion by 2010 and is also looking at products from aluminum, compared to iron it has been doing so far, and has interests in defence.