Swedish luxury car maker Volvo recently announced that it is undertaking a feasibility study for establishing car manufacturing facilities in India and other emerging economies, in its endeavour to double its global sales from 440,000 units currently to 800,000 by 2020.
Devaluation of the rupee, inflation, and increasing import costs are being cited as reasons for the company’s planned price hike by a minumum of 5% from January 2013. In the face of this situation, the company believes that a local manufacturing facility would help its pursuit of annual sales of 20,000 units by 2020.
Volvo India presently sells only completely built up (CBU) units, which are fully imported and attract duty of 108-110% in India. The company is targeting 15% of the projected 150,000 unit market for luxury cars in India in 2020. Popular Volvo models in India with additional safety features include teh XC60, XC90, S60 and S80. The company surpassed its target of 800 units for this year by selling 820 units, comfortably beating the previous year’s score of 320 units. Volvo sold 820 units in India this year against a target of 800, which was up from 320 units last year. The sales target for 2013 is 1,200 units, of which 10% is expected to come from Gujarat.
The new Volvo V-40 Cross Country will be launched in India in March-April 2013. The model was recently unveiled in Paris, and prices for India have not been announced yet. The company is also working towards a 13-dealer strong network by 2013. It recently appointed a new dealer “Autobots” in Ahmedabad, which would be its 11th dealer.
