Volvo to locally assembly cars through modified plant in Bengaluru; XC90 SUV will be the first model to be rolled out later this year
Volvo Auto India has announced that it will commence assembly of its models locally in India by the end of this calendar year. For a luxury manufacturer to be successful in the local market, it is essential to have the models priced competitively which Volvo somehow already do in different segments.
With local assembly and the impending GST laws, Volvo is getting ambitious as it aims at doubling the current market share to 10 percent by 2020. This puts the Swedish auto brand on par with the German counterparts like Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz as they have reaped benefits over the years in assembly their products locally.
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Since entering the market in 2010, Volvo played second fiddle to the German rivals despite enduring consistent growth with its new family of models. It cannot get any better timely as the luxury segment in India is expanding and opening up the scope for new segments. Volvo sold 1,600 units last year when compared to 1,423 in the previous year.
As for this year, 2,000 new deliveries are targeted at a growth of 25 percent. With a slew of new launches, Volvo has registered a sales surge of 35 percent in the opening quarter of 2017 and the decision to begin local assembly will only project them towards positive outcomes.
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Located near the city of Bengaluru, the modified assembly plant is the one that had been used for putting together the Volvo trucks. It focusses on models underpinned by the SPA modular architecture and the growing craze for XC90 will enable it to be the first model to roll out later this year.
More models will join the lineup later but no substantial level of drop in selling price is expected on the due course. The Volvo Cars division will work alongside Penta engines manufacturer and other commercial vehicle units Volvo has in India.
The oncoming V90 Cross Country and new XC60 are expected to strengthen the brand’s presence further. Volvo launched the country’s first plug-in luxury hybrid SUV last year while the recently launched and aggressively priced S60 Polestar heralded the entry of the brand’s performance arm.