Ashok Leyland to use indigenous tech to upgrade over 10,000 units of BSIII vehicles

Ashok Leyland has unsold stock of more than 10,664 units of commercials vehicles compliant to BSIII emission norms, however the loss will not be as big as expected as the brand plans to upgrade the engines for aftermarket sales, the company MD told PTI. The engines of the vehicles will be fitted with with a new intelligent exhaust gas recirculation (iEGR) technology, so as to bring them up to Bharat Stage IV emission standards. The cost of fitting this new tech on the engines will be Rs 20,000. Most of the unsold inventory is with the company and the dealers, hence the cost of transporting them back to the plant will also be saved. The Supreme Court placed a ban on sale and registration of BSIII vehicles last month.

"Out of a total of 10,664 units of BSIII vehicles, 95 per cent were with us, not with dealers. So we will be upgrading the engines of those vehicles using our indigenously developed iEGR," Ashok Leyland Managing Director Vinod Dasari said. The Hinduja flagship firm said the BSIII engines would be upgraded to BSIV standard using its new iEGR technology.

"We can sell these engines at around Rs 2 lakh though usually the BS-III engines are priced around Rs 1.5 lakh. So the net financial impact on us because of the BS-III ban will be minimal," Dasari added. He refuse to reveal details about the new tech saying that it was a trade secret, but added that “it is a simple innovative solution of achieving the desired results in order to meet BSIV norms".

The BS-IV compliant engines with iEGR will have 10 percent higher fuel economy and can be used for engines of up to 400 horsepower. The company has already started converting 250 old BSIII engines to BSIV standard using iEGR, and it will take about three months for the entire stock to be upgraded. Ashok Leyland has been selling BS-IV compliant commercial vehicles since 2010, Dasari said.

Ashok Leyland Limited