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Ashok Leyland to supply 200 trucks to Bangladesh as part of $2-bn line of credit

Ashok Leyland trucks are not crap. They have been used in India for decades and the transporters are not complaining. There is price and there is value. Not everyone needs a Toyota Fortuner when a Mahindra Bolero will do.

It would be wrong if these trucks were being shoved down the throats of Bangladesh through crony capitalism practices. If that is happening and they are over paying for the trucks, it is indeed not a good thing.

India manufactures all types of trucks - home grown Tatas, Mahindra, ALs, as well as ones with foreign JVs such as Volvo, Daimler and MAN (I believe discontinued). There are plenty of these JV trucks in India and are exported as well. Transporters use them based on what their priority is. In India a truck crossing multiple states is likely to face hilly regions and in these conditions Volvo / Daimer trucks pull really well and cut down transit time. But for everyone transport time is not important and these JV trucks come at a huge premium.

No one Indian company (including JVs) have proved to be consistently more reliable than the other. It is a big function of the transporters own maintenance practices.
 
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Bangladesh's debt-to-GDP ratio has already breached 40%. Taking these useless loans to buy sub-standard Indian products at higher prices will add to the burden. Now that's what you call a debt-trap.
 
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Bangladesh's debt-to-GDP ratio has already breached 40%. Taking these useless loans to buy sub-standard Indian products at higher prices will add to the burden. Now that's what you call a debt-trap.


 
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Bangladesh's debt-to-GDP ratio has already breached 40%. Taking these useless loans to buy sub-standard Indian products at higher prices will add to the burden. Now that's what you call a debt-trap.
Always best buy domestic products....
 
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We had an epic 30 page thread in Indian buses I think some nine years ago. Like PDF Indian bhakts usually do, some started bragging about Indian buses as usual and I had to correct them a bit.

Things about Bangladesh bus manufacturing have changed radically since then, but one thing has not, the demand of even the lower middle class bus-ride clientele in demanding more luxury for the price paid in long-distance travel compared to say, a country like India.

Bus Chassis (actual for buses, not trucks as used in other countries) are almost always imported, some (like AL chassis and Hino Chassis) are assembled locally.

Today most Bangladesh luxury bus bodies are built on Hino, Isuzu and sometimes EU made (Scania, MAN) bus chassis, increasingly multi-axle types and some double decker as well as buses with actual beds. The introduction and adoption of luxury bus chassis with air suspension etc. for local body integration has been on the increase because of demand and these are very commonly in use to long distance routes like Dhaka to Cox's Bazaar where a sea-resort is located.

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Some body shops are even making Laksana (Indonesian) type advanced ultra luxury bodies based on AL Indian chassis, which is not usually seen in India. However these buses were not really popular, owing to their NVH qualities being far lower compared to HINO, Isuzu or even Hyundai buses. Anyway here is the old thread,



Your posting irrelevant news of no consequence and thread hijack attempts and have been reported.
 
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Frankly if BD can source better quality buses at reasonable rates from other places, who is India to dissuade them ?
The grants should have a expiry date and then the money can be diverted to other projects.
Win win for all parties.
From a engineering viewpoint I can say buying from established indian brands ensures a ready and cheap supply of spares.
In India the MNC brands make more money from after sales services , with expensive spares.
I had a linea fiat. The gearbox got damaged in 5 years and I had to shell out 70000 for a new gearbox. No other issues as such . Disposed it off soon after.
 
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TATA Electric Hybrid buses destined for Europe South America and Africa
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Ashok Leyland Electric buses

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Volvo buses made in India for export

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Scania made in India and exported around the world

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Mercedes Benz made in India and exported to Africa where they are very popular

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OF course these buses as Bilal9 insists are of a very poor quality. No Bangladeshi would sit in a bus without seats made of gold woven cloth. In fact the quality of Bangladeshi buses is so good that countries like the US and Germany would never be able to afford such mastery of elegant luxury.

Bangladesh refuses to export their engineering marvels as it considers these countries not worthy of its exports, Its the only reason third world country like India can talk about its millions of units of automotive exports.
 
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Ignore that idiot @Bilal9. He would claim the chaddis they stitch in that country as some high class technologies. Lol.

FORD is trying to make the best use of their assets in India.
There seems to be some profitability on paper, at least now, under the PLI scheme with good incentives for next 5 years.
This is great news for Indian Manufacturing sector
They have two world class factories and I hope they leverage the assets in a fruitful manner.

If they want to make EV’s here for exporting then it’s going to be a good thing only since factories would run again and create employment. Whether they sell in India or not, that’s their decision to make just as whether to buy or not is our decision to make. At the end of the day, the brand will continue to be in the country and that should answer all the doubts which are being raised now !!

Ignore that idiot @Bilal9. He would claim the chaddis they stitch in that country as some high class technologies. Lol.


Taigun/T-Cross are quite capable cars and I'm sure that Indian consumers would appreciate more engine options and other features etc. I am sure VAG being the giant that they are would have the access to the required resources to offer these iterations of the car to Indian consumers as well e.g. emissions norms etc.

But yet amazing to see how the VAG India unit has been export oriented for a while now! Kudos to the team!
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Ignore that idiot @Bilal9. He would claim the chaddis they stitch in that country as some high class technologies. Lol.
Certainly UK cannot afford ultra luxury 1st world made in Shonar Bangla by Bhalton buses thats why has to buy from “low quality, 3rd class cheap Indian companies”.
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Frankly if BD can source better quality buses at reasonable rates from other places, who is India to dissuade them ?
The grants should have a expiry date and then the money can be diverted to other projects.
Win win for all parties.
From a engineering viewpoint I can say buying from established indian brands ensures a ready and cheap supply of spares.
In India the MNC brands make more money from after sales services , with expensive spares.
I had a linea fiat. The gearbox got damaged in 5 years and I had to shell out 70000 for a new gearbox. No other issues as such . Disposed it off soon after.

Fiats aren't considered reliable in first world countries either. Flimsy bodies and cheap engine/transmission components.

The only saving grace for Italian cars is styling, which is good Thanks to all the Italian design houses in Italy (Giugiaro etc.). Many Indian brands either source their designs from Italy or own design houses in Italy outright. Mahindra owns Pininfarina and the Tata Indica was designed by Italian design house IDEA.

Many of the recent nice designs in the Indian market come from these Italian design firms.

Tatas acquired an 80% stake in Trilix Srl, an Italian design and engineering firm for €1.85 million (Rs 11.29 crore) in 2010. The nice recent designs for Tata were sourced from them. When engineering is a known quantity, it is flashy design that sells cars.


Fiat came into the US market twice in the last hundred years, stayed for maybe ten years each time and then had to exit the US Market because no one bought their products.

Episode three is going to take place soon, no one is buying the Fiat 500-X in this country either anymore (see below). Unreliable is the key word, especially with electricals.

That is a death knell for the electric version.

2022-fiat-500x-vlp-hero.jpg
 
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Guys overdoing it a bit.
Let's stay on topic.
A few emotional guys don't represent a country.

Thanks.

A sane voice in the wilderness.

The unfortunate thing is, this mal-reputation by Indian companies of commercial vehicle products in our small market was not made in one day. It was made over fifty years and with some justification, by bus/truck fleet owners. The quality of engines, suspensions were so bad that time between overhauls were measured in one fourth that of similar Japanese buses/trucks.

Indian-made vehicles did not measure up historically quality-wise to those made in Japan or Korea. Some would say they still do not, though as I understand great strides were made recently in styling and also improvements in quality in recent years.

But once a mal-reputation is made, they are hard to refute.

Car buyers in the US still won't buy Hyundai and KIA vehicles because of bad reputation that occurred in the 1990's.

In the last two decades (as some of the bhakts highlighted) foreign bus mfrs. were acquired ( for AL, electrical bus maker Optare in the UK and for Tata, Hispano Carrocera - which was a bus body maker in Spain). Tata also acquired Daewoo's truck line which was being disposed of. These purchases bolstered Tata's position in India.

However I am still unconvinced whether Indian mfrs. will be as successful as Chinese ones in selling electric or Fuel-cell buses overseas profitably.

If they can do import-substitution successfully, that will be a source of much satisfaction in Indian circles I am sure. The size of India's own market for commercial vehicles will see to Tata and AL's success in that area.
 
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