Volvo
Ford Motor Corporation’s subsidiary, Volvo Car Corporation has assigned three Indian dealers ahead of the launch of its cars in the fast increasing market, which had been delayed.
By the end of year 2007, Volvo Car plans to have launched their S80 sedan and sport utility vehicle XC90, which will have a choice of diesel and petrol engines. Also, by the end of 2008, Volvo will assign another 7-9 dealers, according to the Managing Director of Volvo car India Paul de Voijs.
Volvo will plants to initially import their S80 sedans and its Volvo S80 parts and sell them through their dealers in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh. The Swedish automaker also plans on stepping up the sourcing of their Volvo car parts in India, according to de Voijs.
He added, “If we decide to manufacture here at a later date, then we will obviously consider manufacturing with Ford.” However, he did not give any details on their specific investments and target sales for India.
Volvo had initially informed that it would open up dealerships in the last quarter of 2006 in India. However, they were delayed for almost a year due to their getting hold of the required approvals.
Volvo Car’s plan for India is actually more moderate than in China, where it sold more than 7,000 cars last year, in 2006. Volvo has said that in the next 10 years, china could be their second auto market.
Volvo Car is entering an Indian auto market that’s already competitive. They have forecasts that their annual sales will nearly double to 2 million units by 2007, but de Voijs remains confident that the company would not suffer because of its late entry.
He said, “I think there is no better time to enter the market than now, as the economy is still booming, GDP is growing.”
