AVIA sold 600 vehicles last year

The Record Year of 2011: AVIA sold 600 vehicles last year

Prague, February 2012

Prague – After a successful 2010, 2011 was another  good year for Avia Letnany– 600 vehicles were sold, a 34% increase compared to 2010 (448 vehicles). Total revenue of CZK 425 million represented an increase of 26% over 2010 (CZK 337 million). The reason for this increase was primarily the expansion to the Russian market and to the markets of the Middle East and Argentina. 155 vehicles were sold in the Czech Republic (157 in 2010).

“The income from spare part sales and other services remained at the 2010 level (CZK 55 million in 2011, CZK 54 million in 2010), The one-third increase in revenue was driven primarily by vehicle salesOur domestic Czech market was stable and saw no major changes; however success in the Russian market where we sold 87 vehicles last year (only 16 in 2010) and the Middle East and Argentinian markets (112 last year, compared toless than 10 vehicles the year before) resulted in record sales” said Tomáš Jiřička, member of the management of Avia Ashok Leyland Motors in charge of procurement.

The sales figures could have been even higher, but the final results were influenced by two factors – the first being somewhat paradoxical. The great interest of our customers in Avia vehicles particularly towards the end of the year resulted in a large order intake and unfortunately the supply chain could not gear up sufficiently to meet the demand.. This meant that some orders had to be postponed until the next year – about 100 vehicles will be delivered in January and early February 2012, which will of course have a positive impact on this year’s results. The second factor was a decrease in the production of chassis and cabs for Smith Electric Vehicles’ Newton electric vehicles (165 chassis in 2011 compared to225 the year before), caused primarily by the accident in Fukushima, Japan, which negatively influenced the development of new models by our American partners. But the situation has stabilised and in January itself, there are over100 orders for chassis and cabs for the Newton electric vehicles.

“We have ambitions for growth  in the Czech market as well, where we are aiming for a short-term goal of 200 to 300 vehicles every year. The conditions for these ambitious goals have been created in 2011. We have successfully established astable dealer network; starting this year, we will intensify cooperation with five central dealers who will be selling Avia vehicles in the Czech Republic. All of them have enough room to build their own local networks,” said the marketing manager and company spokesman Michal Bačkovský. 

Since 2006 Avia Ashok Leyland Motors s.r.o. has been part of the Hinduja Group whose flagship company Ashok Leyland is the second largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in India. Backed by Ashok Leyland (with 9 plants and active in more than 30 markets across three continents), AVIA in recent years has launched the process of returning to global markets and expanding its product portfolio.  AVIA Ashok Leyland Motors manufactures truck classes with weights from 6.5 to 12 tons GVW and has gained popularity among customers for heavy resilience, excellent control, model variability and low operating costs. The 600 vehicles produced at the Letňany plant in 2011 were shipped to markets in Europe, the United States of America and Asia. Avia Ashok Leyland Motors s.r.o. revenues from sales and services in the last year reached CZK 425 billion (a growth of 34% compared to 2010) and, as of 31 December 2011, the company employed 208 people.