IFAD Autos to manufacture AC High-Deck bus locally in Bangladesh

[Bilal9]

BI Report || BusinessInsider
Published: 19:48, 1 March 2021 Update: 20:09, 1 March 2021

IFAD Autos is set to manufacture airconditioned and non-airconditioned bus locally for the first time in Bangladesh in collaboration with Ashok Leyland, an Indian multinational automobile company.

For the first time in the country IFAD Autos is set to manufacture airconditioned and non-airconditioned bus locally in collaboration with Ashok Leyland, an Indian multinational automobile company.

With an investment of over Tk 100 crore, the plant at IFAD Industrial Park has a capacity to manufacture 500 AC buses and 500 non-AC buses yearly. It will also produce drivers’ cabin for trucks.

The raw material and spare parts will be sourced from Japan, Korean and Germany, said Rafique Uzzaman, head of media, IFAD Autos.

He said only the engine of the bus would be provided by Ashok Leyland and the body would be made locally.

‘Our plant was ready for operation about four months back. But due to coronavirus we had to reschedule the launch,” he told the Business Insider Bangladesh.

Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun will inaugurate the plant on March 4.

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So - this means, they will have a chassis building, sheet metal stamping, galvanizing and spot weld operations locally in addition to component assembly operations. Notice how IFAD being Ashok Leyland dealers in the past, are trying to distance themselves so desperately from being a pusher of Indian goods. I hope they take more progressive and far-reaching steps like Malaysian and Indonesian coachbuilders (like Laksana) and build buses, truck cabs and coaches with engines and axles sourced from Caterpillar, Cummins, DAF and MAN and gearboxes from ZF or Voith, instead of garbage low quality products like Ashok Leyland and Tata.

They should also source designs in collaboration with reputed bus design firms like Irizar, SETRA, Van Hool and others so they can export their products. The first requirement for this is a large local bus transport market which we have in spades.

Local coachbuilders operate on informal one-off basis mostly so far, but HINO and Hyundai High Decker coaches are also made in moderate quantities. But IFAD's 100 crore investment is pretty large as a coach builder and I am sure, will be followed by other firms in copycat fashion. 100 crore in relative terms is not really all that much money to invest in industrial sector in Bangladesh today.

Here are the current crop of High Deck intercity buses in Bangladesh. Some of these coaches are made locally (on imported chassis) because of lower labor cost.

This one (double decker coach) was imported from Malaysia

These are Indonesian Laksana Double axle buses in Bangladesh (SR2 Double Decker with a Scania K410iB chassis), cost is lower than Malaysia MAN buses. Hope IFAD can also go into making double deckers as there is plenty of demand in Bangladesh.

Interior

Laksana high-decker in ENA (Bangladesh) fleet. This design is very popular in Bangladesh and has already been copycatted many times over by local coach builders.

 

[Bilal9]

 

[Michael Corleone]

Lol the most critical component will be Indian. What can I say
Hopefully they sign up with the Swedish companies for reliable cost effective engines

 

[DalalErMaNodi]

Lol the most critical component will be Indian. What can I say
Hopefully they sign up with the Swedish companies for reliable cost effective engines

Atleast this leads to people getting trained, trained personnel who can then be shifted to other ventures...

 

[Michael Corleone]

Atleast this leads to people getting trained, trained personnel who can then be shifted to other ventures...

Ye. Automotive has always been profitable in bd

 

[Bilal9]

Lol the most critical component will be Indian. What can I say
Hopefully they sign up with the Swedish companies for reliable cost effective engines

They could use Hyundai, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck or Bus engines which are a lot cheaper than EU made engines. Or use what everyone else in Bangladesh uses, Hino engines made in Japan.

Whichever EU company manufactures products in India, avoid them like the plague! No use supporting Brahmin Banya nexus.

I am 99% sure they are using Ashok Leyland engines for cost reasons. All they have to do is find a reliable Chinese/Korean or even Japanese engine as a replacement. This can be done without much hassle.

As IFAD's market in Bangladesh increases in volume and they become more adept at producing coachwork products with their own design and engg., they should kick out Ashok Leyland. Selling Indian product in Bangladesh is a liability, customers don't see it as a positive trait.

 

[Michael Corleone]

They could use Hyundai, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck or Bus engines which are a lot cheaper than EU made engines. Or use what everyone else in Bangladesh uses, Hino engines made in Japan.

Whichever EU company manufactures products in India, avoid them like the plague! No use supporting Brahmin Banya nexus.

I am 99% sure they are using Ashok Leyland engines for cost reasons. All they have to do is find a reliable Chinese/Korean or even Japanese engine as a replacement. This can be done without much hassle.

As IFAD's market in Bangladesh increases in volume and they become more adept at producing coachwork products with their own design and engg., they should kick out Ashok Leyland. Selling Indian product in Bangladesh is a liability, customers don't see it as a positive trait.

Probably yes. Once they gain enough experience assembling, I reckon they’ll be dropped for Hino, very popular in bd. All no brand bus in bd are hino chassis and engine.

 

[Bilal9]

Here is a video showing IFAD's bus body manufacturing. Manufacturing coaches in this manner will essentially halve their acquisition cost for owners.

IFAD Auto is also planning a huge venture to manufacture (in high volume) auto parts and consumables (brake shoes, alternators, other engine parts) at Mirsarai SEZ in CTG. The export-based factory is under construction.

 

[Bilal9]

Just for comparison, here is video showing MAN producing their municipal inner city buses in Germany (video caption is wrong). Although high cost, manufacturing buses in Germany is required for govt. safety mandates and regulation purposed by many German municipalities. As one can see - unlike IFAD's heavy duty intercity bus structure, these MAN municipal buses have a lot lighter structure and frame with probably more rigid steel alloy tubes.

 

[Bilal9]

MAN was producing buses in In 2010 - in Ankara (Turkey) which are roughly equivalent to what we have in Bangladesh today.

Turkey has most of the European bus/truck manufacturers in their country including MBZ, here is another video of Turkey plant making MBZ trucks and semis,

And one older video for buses,