India to become global hub for Volvo Buses

BANGALORE, January 14 (Agencies): Over the next few years India will emerge as a global hub for Swedish company Volvo Bus Corporation. The company has laid plans to develop four regions in the world -- India, China, Poland and Mexico as regional hubs for exports and product development. India will cater to the South Asian markets as well as some other developing regions like South Africa.
For this, Volvo will invest Rs 200 crore over the next 2-3 years at its manufacturing unit in Hoskote, on the outskirts of Bangalore. It plans to increase its manufacturing capacity to 5,000 units by 2015. “The company is also expanding its R&D base in the country by setting up a new product development establishment in India,” said Hakan Karlsson, president and CEO of Volvo Bus Corporation, who was in Bangalore on Wednesday.
Volvo India is also increasing its component-sourcing footprint in the country. “We plan to make India, the auto component sourcing hub for the rest of our manufacturing centres. The bus body for our Indian products is today totally localized. We plan to make 100% localized buses in the future,” said Rune Lundberg, senior VP, Volvo Bus Corporation. For greater localization the company is also setting up a new engine factory in Pithampur, MP. Volvo Buses India grew by around 15% in volumes in 2010 selling close to 500 buses. It expects a growth of 15-20% overall with soft services to contribute 50% of its revenue by 2013-14.