Volvo's new luxury bus

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, OCT. 20. Volvo India today launched its B7R luxury bus with 10 buses being picked up by private operators in the Southern States. Each bus costs Rs. 40 lakhs.

At the pre-launch press conference, Mr. Jan Engstrom, President, Volvo Bus Corporation, said India was the 81st market where Volvo buses would be sold and that Volvo considered India and China as the most promising markets. These two countries, he said, would account for 40 per cent of the market share in the years to come.

With its entry into India, Mr. Engstrom said, Volvo had a global presence now. The market now in India was about 25,000 buses annually and said it would have to contend with competent local players such as Telco and Ashok Leyland.

Volvo, he said, would remain focussed on luxury buses at the moment and not enter the ``city bus'' segment for various reasons including road conditions. Volvo will produce the chassis at its Hoskote factory, while the body will be manufactured by Azad Group at its facility in Whitefield.

Built on a true-bus chassis, the B7R, Mr. Ulf Nordqvist, Managing Director, Volvo India, said, extended Volvo's commitment to the transportation industry in India.

Mr. Nordqvist said Volvo had made a strategic decision of introducing world class products in India and B7R was part of this commitment. The company had become a total solutions provider in the transport sector.

Volvo, according to Mr. Akash Passey, General Manager, Volvo Bus Division, had a sales target of couple of hundred buses in three years as the luxury bus segment was growing at 15 per cent annually. The trials of B7R were done by five transport operators - the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC); Sharma Transports; Konduskar Travels; Puzhukadavil and Sathya Sai travels and all of them, he said, were satisfied with the performance of the vehicle. Volvo was in talks with KSRTC for their requirements.

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