Volvo to Launch S60 in India by 2010

Swedish luxury carmaker Volvo is planning to launch a new luxury sedan in India by 2010. The luxury sedan S60 will be launched in India after the company re-launches the car in the European car market, which will happen sometime during the middle of next year.

"We will be launching the S60 in the Indian market after it is rolled out in Europe in the middle of next year. We hope to have it in India before the end of 2010," said Paul de Voijs, Managing Director, Volvo Cars India.

The S60 has been phased out completely in May this year and the new S60 will be a completely new and advanced version of the car. The S60 would be brought to India as a Completely Built Unit (CBU) from its parent facility in Belgium.



"We will look for annual sales of, may be, around 2,000-3,000 units before setting up an assembly plant here. Our major plants in Sweden and Belgium have still got a lot of extra capacity," said Voijs.

The company seems to be very enthusiastic about the fast growing luxury car market of India. Currently Volvo has three models in its portfolio in India that are Volvo C70, Volvo S80 and Volvo XC90.

First seven-seater car launched in India

The Swedish Volvo Group is launching its first seven seater car in India, which is available in five attractive colours, stylishly priced at Rs 58 lakhs. Paul De Vojis, managing director, India says, they plan to launch three more models soon..

SWEDISH LUXURY car manufacturer Volvo has rolled out the latest variant of its luxury SUV XC90 in the Indian market. The car comes outfitted with a powerful V8 4.4 litre petrol engine delivering 315 bhp.

The XC90 made an entry to the Indian market in the year 2007 and the all-new variant is loaded with a host of luxury and safety features. It comes equipped with sports calibrated steering, sport-tuned chassis, and stylish stability control techniques.

According to Volvo Car India managing director Paul De Voijs, “The launch of the new variant of XC90 aims to broaden our model range to attract more customers with an active and urban lifestyle. Volvo that entered the Indian market in September last year with two models, has so far sold over 100 units.

He also said that we plan to launch our most recent offering XC60 soon after it is rolled out in Europe in November this year. We have three other models that might also be launched in India.”

The Volvo XC90 R-DESIGN will be available in five colours and is the first seven seater Volvo car in the country. The car is priced at Rs 58 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi).

The company is also planning to bring its all-new compact-sized crossover, XC60, in the country after its launch in Europe next month.

Merc mulls engine, gearbox unit in India

German auto giant Mercedes-Benz is contemplating setting up a plant to manufacture engines, gearboxes and other components in India at a whopping investment of Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 crore. While plans are yet to be finalised, the lower cost of manufacturing in India has compelled the company to give a serious thought to the proposition, Harald Landmann, the bus business head for Mercedes-Benz said at the launch of the company’s intercity luxury bus in Pune.

Assembled at Sutlej Motors in Jalandhar, the Rs 80-lakh bus will compete with its Swiss counterpart Volvo in the fast growing Indian luxury bus segment.

“We are yet to figure out when the entire bus building operation, including the development of engine and gearboxes, will happen in India. However, we are looking at a possibility to set up a manufacturing unit over the next three to five years,” Landmann said, speaking to reporters after the launch.

While Landmann did not disclose the location to set up this unit, officials close to the development hinted at Pune or Chennai.

Mercedes Benz is setting up its new facility at Chakan to manufacture cars as well as buses, which will begin operations in January. The company is expected to move all its operations from its present plant in Chikhali to Chakan. Considering this, the company might set up the engines and gearboxes unit in the vicinity of the Chakan plant.

“As our new manufacturing unit is coming up at Chakan, the engine and gearbox manufacturing should ideally happen in the same region. Since Pune has a strong automobile component industry, the unit has to come up nearby,” an official stated.

Once the company draws a concrete plan for the Rs 2,500-crore project, it will approach the Maharashtra government for approvals. “We might explore other states to set up the engine-gearbox facility if things do not work out in Maharashtra,” he added. Apart from Pune, Chennai could be the other option for this project.

Elaborating the business plan for the newly launched bus, Landmann said, “Mercedes-Benz enjoys a 17 per cent market share in the global luxury bus market. We have built the new bus on our versatile O500 R/RF chassis, which is being developed at the Pune plant. While most of the components are being imported from a Brazil-based unit, the chassis-building acitivity will happen in Jalandhar through an agreement with Sutlej Motors.”

“The luxury bus market is growing in India. Volvo, so far the only significant player in India, sold some 350 buses last year. Our plan is to earn a significant market share within the first year,” Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director Dr Wilfried Aulbur said.

Merc mulls engine, gearbox unit in India

German auto giant Mercedes-Benz is contemplating setting up a plant to manufacture engines, gearboxes and other components in India at a whopping investment of Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000 crore.
While plans are yet to be finalised, the lower cost of manufacturing in India has compelled the company to give a serious thought to the proposition, Harald Landmann, the bus business head for Mercedes-Benz said at the launch of the company’s intercity luxury bus in Pune.
Assembled at Sutlej Motors in Jalandhar, the Rs 80-lakh bus will compete with its Swiss counterpart Volvo in the fast growing Indian luxury bus segment. “We are yet to figure out when the entire bus building operation, including the development of engine and gearboxes, will happen in India.
However, we are looking at a possibility to set up a manufacturing unit over the next three to five years,” Landmann said, speaking to reporters after the launch. While Landmann did not disclose the location to set up this unit, officials close to the development hinted at Pune or Chennai. Mercedes Benz is setting up its new facility at Chakan to manufacture cars as well as buses, which will begin operations in January. The company is expected to move all its operations from its present plant in Chikhali to Chakan.
Considering this, the company might set up the engines and gearboxes unit in the vicinity of the Chakan plant. “As our new manufacturing unit is coming up at Chakan, the engine and gearbox manufacturing should ideally happen in the same region.
Since Pune has a strong automobile component industry, the unit has to come up nearby,” an official stated. Once the company draws a concrete plan for the Rs 2,500-crore project, it will approach the Maharashtra government for approvals. “We might explore other states to set up the engine-gearbox facility if things do not work out in Maharashtra,” he added.
Apart from Pune, Chennai could be the other option for this project. Elaborating the business plan for the newly launched bus, Landmann said, “Mercedes-Benz enjoys a 17 per cent market share in the global luxury bus market. We have built the new bus on our versatile O500 R/RF chassis, which is being developed at the Pune plant.
While most of the components are being imported from a Brazil-based unit, the chassis-building activity will happen in Jalandhar through an agreement with Sutlej Motors.”
“The luxury bus market is growing in India. Volvo, so far the only significant player in India, sold some 350 buses last year. Our plan is to earn a significant market share within the first year,” Mercedes-Benz India Managing Director Dr Wilfried Aulbur said.

Volvo plans to launch new models in India

Volvo Car India (VCI), a division of Ford Motor Company, is planning to strengthen its dealer network and launch new models in the Indian market, the company’s Managing Director Paul de Voijs has said.”Currently we market our products in India through three dealers: one each in Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh. Now we are planning to expand our business in places like Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and Cochin. We will disclose our business details within the next two weeks,” Voijs said here Saturday.

“We will monitor our business progress in India for one more year then based on the response we may also open an assembly unit at some appropriate place in India,” he said.

However, all this depends on the response and support that we will get from Indian business facilitators.

“Permits for constructions and other business requirements here are very complex and vary from state to state,” he said.

Eyeing the rich Punjab market, Voijs said: “Punjab is one of the flourishing states of India and we consider it as a potential market for us. We are particularly planning to intensify our business operations in this state. I believe that the rich populace of Punjab prefers quality products and the unmatched Volvo cars will be the first choice for them if we market well in this region.”

VCI has ten luxurious models in its portfolio and they have plans to introduce 2-3 more models by the end of this fiscal year, Voijs said.

He said VCI believes in direct marketing and direct promotional activities right at the doorstep of the potential buyers rather than blind advertising. We intend to sell 400 to 500 Volvo cars in India by the end of this fiscal year.

“The Volvo Ocean Race will also cross India this year for the first time to promote the Volvo brand,” Voijs said.

The Volvo Ocean Race is an yacht race that goes around the world and is held every three years. This year it is being sponsored by Volvo.

The race starts from Spain and runs for 8-9 months covering various countries across the globe. It will cross Kochi at the end of 2008 and will finish in Russia in 2009, Voijs said.

VCI presented its S80 3.2 model car to India’s first Olympics individual gold medallist, Abhinav Bindra Saturday.

“We will also try to promote sports in India. Indian boxers have also done well in the Olympics, we will also try to felicitate them in the near future,” he said.

Eicher, AB Volvo venture finalised

Eicher Motors Ltd and AB Volvo (Volvo) finalised their joint venture deal with the closing of definite agreements that were signed between the two on May 26.

EML has transferred its commercial vehicles business along with its related components and engineering design services businesses to its joint venture company with Volvo, VE Commercial vehicles Ltd. (VECV). In addition to the businesses being transferred from EML, this venture will also contain Volvo Group’s Indian truck sales operations and the truck and bus service operations. The operations of VECV are effective from July 1, 2008.