Volvo Cars sticks to India plans; to launch 2 models next year

Swedish carmaker Volvo Cars, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the US-based Ford Motor Company, said the change of ownership will not affect its India operations, and the company will roll out two models– XC60 and S60– in the country, besides expanding its dealership network to 13 by next year-end.
“It is hard to say that who would be the owner and how it is going to happen, but whoever it may be it is hardly going to make any difference as far as our India operations are concerned,’’ Volvo Cars India Managing Director Paul de Voijs told UNI.
Talks are on between Ford and China-based Geely Holding’s to acquire Volvo from Ford Motor Company for last 10 months.
According to certain media reports, the negotiations have hit the roadblock with the parent company having issues about sharing its proprietary technology and plans for new products. Mr Voijs said the company’s vision for India is a “long-term” one and it sees tremendous growth in the country’s luxury car segment which has seen less dent during the slowdown.
“Luxury cars account for 0.5% of the total car sales in India and I don’t see any reason why the segment would not grow further,’’ he said.
Asked whether Volvo is looking at establishing its manufacturing facility in the country, Mr Voijs said the company has no plans for doing so in near future as it has enough capacity at its plants in Belgium and Sweden.
“Establishing a manufacturing facility only makes sense if it is financially viable. Moreover, we have enough capacity at our plants in Belgium and Sweden to meet Indian requirements,’’ he said.
Mr Voijs said the government should also look at addressing the duty slab on Completely Built Units (CBUs) which currently attracts an import duty of nearly 110 per cent .
The carmaker currently sells two models– Volvo S80 and XC90– in the domestic market which are priced at about Rs 40 lakh and Rs 55 lakh. For domestic consumers, the company will launch Volvo XC60, followed by Volvo S60 in the later half of 2010, he said.
“First, we will roll out the XC60 which will be followed by the S60 which we hope to bring in the later half of 2010,” he said.
The global launch of the S60 will commence in May 2010, Mr Vojis said.
Volvo is also looking at further expanding its foothold in the country by expanding its dealership from the present nine to 12-13 by next year.