Ifad Autos has become the first local automobile company to export airconditioned (AC) buses assembled in Bangladesh.

The company started shipping 11 of the buses to Bhutan this week and will send 11 more within this month. Ifad has achieved a historic milestone for the automobile industry of Bangladesh, said Iftekhar Ahmed Tipu, chairman of Ifad Group.

Ifad has its own manufacturing plant, where the body of the AC buses were made.

"The bus export was really a matter of pride for Bangladesh, as the country has always imported this type of vehicles," he added.

Apart from Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Myanmar and India's seven-sister states have also showed interest in buying AC and non-AC buses from Ifad, Tipu said. The chairman of the automobile company thinks his company will be able to export buses to many more countries if it is provided with government support.

According to Tipu, a revolutionary change has been achieved in the field of heavy vehicles in Bangladesh over the past few years.

Ifad Autos has set up a car manufacturing plant as the country spends a huge amount of foreign currency every year for car imports, he said.

Ifad Autos, one of the companies of Ifad Group, has been marketing various models of AC, non-AC buses, trucks and covered vans of Indian automaker Ashok Leyland in Bangladesh since 1985.

In early 2017, Ifad started assembling commercial vehicles in its Dhamrai plant in Dhaka with the technical support of Ashok Leyland.