Volvo Buses bets big on India hub

Swedish mass-commuter solutions giant Volvo Buses has expressed its resolve to turn its plant at Hoskote near here, as a large manufacturing hub for the region and other global markets, even as it aims to diversify its localisation initiatives.

Volvo Buses, whose 6,000 vehicles (4,500 coaches connecting over 100 cities, and 1,500 inter-city buses in 34 locations) run across India through 250 operators, has said that it is in a good position to localise.

Talking to DH, Volvo Bus Corporation President Håkan Agnevall said, “Volvo Buses has always positioned itself to provide products that deliver the right value to our customers. The way forward for us is to offer the latest solutions in India that can provide the finest ownership experience to the operators.”

Today, the plant boasts of a capacity of 1,500 units a year, at full shift. Apart from producing buses for India, the facility has also become a regional hub from where vehicles are being exported to South Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. From this year, the company also commenced shipping Euro VI-compliant city buses to Europe (Spain and France) from here.

Localisation strategy

According to Volvo Bus Corporation Senior Vice President (Business Region International) Akash Passey, “While we have several hubs around the world such as Poland in Europe, Mexico in North America, and Shanghai in China, the Hoskote plant is a hub for local and other Asian markets.”

The company’s India team has achieved almost 100% localisation in building of the bus body, and is taking steps to localise the drive-line.

Volvo recently launched a new bus range that includes the Volvo 9400 12.0m coach with a new 8-litre engine sourced from VECV’s Pithampur facility.

The Volvo 9400 13.8m multi-axle coach gets a boost with the engine being upgraded from 9-litre, to 11-litre, and in the Volvo 9400 14.5m coach, the 11-litre engine is upgraded to meet the upcoming BSIV emission regulations, besides improvements for enhanced performance.

Meanwhile, Volvo Buses is running a pilot for its hybrid bus in Mumbai, and Agnevall said that the company is in dialogue with different cities to derive interest for the same.