News : The Leyland name makes a return

Ashok Leyland Stile

The Leyland roundel is back – and not just on a commercial vehicle! Thanks to a deal brokered between GM and Nissan, the US company will launch a badge-engineered NV200 as the 2015 Chevrolet City Express. An extension of this deal for the Indian market means that the Japanese van will also be the basis of a new vehicle for the Indian market called the Ashok Leyland Stile.

Ashok Leyland developed the vehicle together with the Nissan in a joint venture which will result in the van being built at the Japanese car company’s Oragadam plant near Chennai, India. Offered as a seven- or eight-seater people carrier, the Stile features facelifted styling over the Nissan NV200 it’s based upon.

The van is powered by the Renault-Nissan’s 1.5-litre dCi engine developing 75bhp and 136lb ft. The Stile will also be offered in CNG (LPG) trim. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, who was present at the recent launch event, said: ‘This collaboration has accelerated Ashok Leyland sales and increased Nissan’s economies of  scale while providing customers with unique products specifically tailored to Indian preferences.’

The Stile joins the Ashok-Leyland Dost, which has been making serious inroads into the Indian pick-up market. We live in hope that these new Leylands make it back to the UK.

Keith Adams
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14 Comments

  1. What a tangle. Nissan ties up with GM to badge a Chevy to allow Ashok Leyland to build a van.

    Ironic that Leyland lives on as a rebadged Nissan, given that Nissan started off building Austin 7s, and Nissan’s alliance partner Renault was once approached for a JV with BL.

  2. @1 Yes would be nice to see an Optare with Leyland Badge exported.
    @3 nice bit of history.
    Looks OK too. Be nice to see it assembled in the UK wouldn’t it.

  3. Not the first connection between Nissan’s smallest van and a company of BL origin, its predecessor (the Serena) was marketed as the LDV Cub for a little while.
    The NV200 seems to be doing well, already sold by three different brands and more badge engineering to be expected in the future. Who would have thought that a company with “Leyland” in its name would be building a version of the future New York cab?

  4. Agree with Will #3. Who would have thought we would see a GM-Nissan joint venture which culminates with a van bearing the Leyland badge? How times have changed… Not a bad looking vehicle though.

  5. Funny how a NV200 jack and wheel brace cost £400 to replace,even the front bumpers are £550 apiece..the Connect is still better i think but these are a handy size.

  6. It would be fantastic to see the Leyland badge on uk roads again if only to see the look on peoples faces , after all if another indian company TATA can work wonders with JLR ASHOK LEYLAND could do the same.

  7. Would it be able to be badged simply as a “Leyland” in the UK? Are the rights to the use of that name in the UK not owned by Paccar (ex truck) and/or Volvo (ex bus and coach)? Not sure about who owns the rights to the use of the roundel in the UK though.

  8. LDV Cub, now there’s something you don’t see very often now.

    With my pedantic head on #3 Will M, Nissan actually did not build Austin 7s in the 1930s. They were similar in appearance but not in any way linked and the first Nissan tie-up was in the 1950s with licence built Somersets and Cambridges.

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  1. Motor industry news – July 2013 | Richard Aucock

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