Ashok Leyland won the design excellence award for its Light Commercial Vehicle “Bada Dost” in the CII Design Excellence Awards under the category of ‘Mobility Design: Four wheelers commercial vehicle’.

Instituted by CII, the CII Design Excellence Awards acknowledge and celebrate Indian design and innovation. They strive to create new paradigms of design in India while promoting the unique amalgamation of traditional with contemporary design. This year, Japan was the partner country for the Design Awards.

Speaking on the occasion, N Saravanan, Chief Technology Officer, Ashok Leyland, said, “We are glad to have won this award. This is a testament to our efforts to create designs that meet the expectations of our customers, improve the driver’s experience, and while at the same time create a vehicle that is efficient in the transportation of goods.”

Speaking about the Award, Sathiya Seelan, Head – Design, Ashok Leyland, said, “Bada Dost is an honest and sincere effort towards frugal innovation and human-centred design, offering best-in-class features making it more efficient, comfortable, meaningful, profitable and desirable for customers.”

It features customer-centric offerings on technology and driver comfort, while being contemporary and futuristic. Equipped with the latest BS-6 engine, it has two variants, i4 and i3, with a best-in-class payload capacity of 1,860 kg and 1,400 kg, respectively.