Volvo XC

Volvo Auto India planning local assembly, decision to be finalised this year

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2014 Volvo S60 saloon had a facelift recently.

Volvo came to India with all of its Swedish charm in 2007. The carmaker currently offers a variety of cars such as the Volvo S60 entry-level premium saloon, S80 luxury saloon, XC60 compact luxury crossover, XC90 luxury SUV and the V40 Cross Country hatchback. The Achilles heel for all these cars and for the marque itself, is the fact that all these cars are imported into the country as CBUs. This is not the most profitable method of doing business, especially if Volvo plans on growing its market share in a cost-competitive market such as India.

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The V40 Cross Country (petrol) was launched in April for INR 27 lakh.

To bring the costs down, Volvo has been busy scouting for locations throughout the world to locally assemble its cars. This particular team has been also looking at the possibilities of assembling the cars in India, as part of its worldwide local assembly mission. The decision of which, will be taken before the eclipse of this year. Volvo’s primary objective is to scale up its production volumes and a key factor to that plan, is to drive the costs of the vehicles down. This is only possible if Volvo Auto India, especially, figures out a way to assemble all of its current models in the country.

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Volvo’s XC90 launch could happen this month, itself.

It was reported a while back, that Volvo Auto India tried approaching General Motors India, Mahindra & Mahindra and Hindustan Motors to try if it would be possible for the Swedish carmaker to use one of their manufacturing facilities. That being said, none of that ever came to fruition and the company was back to square one. Volvo Auto India managed to sell 1200 units in 2014 and plans to boost that figure to 2000 units in 2015. The company is hoping for a 70% growth, boosted by its expanding sales network and new product launches. Volvo is aiming for a 10% stake in the Indian luxury car market by the year 2020 and for that to happen, we reckon it’s crucial for the Swedes to get their India assembly plan rolling and fast.

via ET Auto

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