"We are very pleased with our partnership with Optare," said Dr V Sumantran, executive vice chairman of India's Hinduja Automotive, parent company to Ashok Leyland.  He sees big opportunities for both partners in the global trend toward urbanisation and the parallel, growing demands for mass transit systems and inevitably growing restrictions on private cars.  He expects Ashok and Optare to develop as integrated transport solution providers rather than simply bus and coach builders.  The deal with Optare should "leverage" both sides of the equation, for instance with Optare able to take advantage of Ashok's proven natural gas engine technology - it has over 15,000  and Ashok using the UK firm's integral bus and coach building expertise.  Sumantran says his company has been continuously profitable for 63 straight years.
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