Volvo Car India (VCI) a subsidiary of the Swedish luxury car-maker Volvo Car is planning to launch its luxury sedan S60 in India by 2010, after the reintroduction of the car in the European markets in the middle of next year. 

Once VCI starts selling at least 2,000 units a year, Volvo car will look forward to set up an assembly facility in India. 

Paul de Voijs, Managing Director, Volvo Car India stated, “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”. 

He added that the S60 was phased out since May this year and the new car would be an advanced version. 

Volvo Car India currently sells its vehicles as completely- built-unit (CBU) here will bring in the S60 from its parent facility in Belgium. 

Voijs replied, when asked about setting up its own production facility in India, “the firm would look at having an assembly plant only after achieving a "reasonable sales target".” 

He added, “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”. 

The company is also exploring possibilities to bring its SUV XC60 in the country, although no final dates have been fixed for the launch of the crossover model, says Voijs. 

VCI sells its sports utility vehicle (SUV) XC90 and sedan S80 in India at present in both petrol and diesel variants, which are imported from its Swedish plant. It had sold about 100 units last year. 

Voijs said, “We have not set any target for this year, but we hope to cross last year's figures and so far it is promising”. Moreover, the company is expanding its dealership network to 12 from 7 showrooms by end of this year. Discussions were on to open outlets in Goa, Ahmedabad and Bangalore, while looking for options to set up dealerships in Jaipur and Kolkata, says Voijs. 

He said that with 12 dealerships, we can reasonably cover the entire country and then we will look at increasing our sales and added, “The luxury car segment in India is growing faster than the entire Indian car market.” 

“Ford is looking at buyers to sell the brand, but I don't know when and to whom. However, it will have no impact on Volvo in India and we are already in the process of creating our own legal entity”, informed Voijs. 

Volvo has one facility each in Belgium, China, Thailand and Malaysia and two more facilities in Sweden.

Best Selling Volvo Car Models:
Volvo S80 D5(185 PS) (Diesel)
Volvo S80 3.2 (Petrol)
Volvo S80 V8 AWD (Petrol)
Volvo XC90 D5 AWD (Diesel)
Volvo XC90 3.2 AWD (Petrol)

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Posted by Naresh Koshti on 7 August, 2009 4:13:01 PM IST #