Strategy shift to help Volvo jack up sales

• January
• 2

7:29 am Vehicles

Volvo Bus Corporation India expects a 30 per cent jump in the net sales volume in this calendar year.

The company is estimated to have sold around 250 buses in the previous year, which includes inter-city and intra-city buses.

Volvo has already started manufacturing buses locally, which it expects will accelerate sales.

“Our Rs 100-crore plant — a 70:30 joint venture between Volvo and Jaico Automobiles — has already started production. Commercial launch will take place in the third or fourth week of January,” said Akash Passey, director — business, strategy and operational development, Volvo Bus Corporation.

“We expect to increase our volumes significantly this year as we have changed our business model after starting local production,” he added.

Volvo started its business in India in 2001. Around 1,500 buses are now on road in the country.

The plant is expected to manufacture 500 buses annually. The company will hike the capacity of the unit to 1,000 buses by 2009.

The number of above-12-tonne vehicles manufactured in India varies from 25,000 to 30,000 units annually. Production depends on the growth of the economy.

Around 2,000 air-conditioned buses are made per annum, while around 800 units of fixed glass, specialised true coach buses, such as Volvo and Starbus, are built every year.

Volvo hopes to garner more revenues from intra-city buses than inter-city ones in the future.

The company already runs buses in Bangalore, Chennai and Pune for city transportation systems.