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.
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.


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