Volvo Auto India to scale up its dealership outlets to 12 by 2010-end
Volvo Auto India to scale up its dealership outlets to 12 by 2010-end
Volvo Auto India, which is has reaffirmed that it is quite upbeat about the country’s operations and would also be rolling out its global models in a phased manner, is gearing up to increase its dealership network from 7 currently to 12 by the end of this year. Even though the Swedish carmaker is not keen to set up an assembly facility in India, it is chalking out robust strategies to enhance its dealership base to Goa, Kolkata, Bangalore and Ahmedabad and Coimbatore. It is to be mentioned that the aforesaid luxury carmaker, which sold over 300 cars until now, has already established its presence in seven cities; Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Cochin, Chennai and Pune. It is to be mentioned that Volvo commenced its operations in India as a division of Ford Motors in 2007. Later in 2009, Volvo Cars separated from Ford and renamed the wholly-owned subsidiary as Volvo Auto India.
Currently Volvo offers the following choice to the customers- S80 a luxury sedan and luxury seven-seater SUV XC90. Both are available in 3 variants of D5 Diesel; 4.4L V8 Petrol & 3.2L Petrol. There are 2 variants of the XC90 also available – XC90 R-Design; XC90 Ocean Race Edition. Volvo will also launch a diesel variant of the S80 next month. Apart from S60, the company is also proposing to bring in compact crossover SUV XC60, which is currently undergoing road testing it at the International Centre for Automotive Technology (iCAT). Even though the C70-coupe is also on the company’s drawing board, it will be available on an individual basis according to demand, reported ‘The Hindusbusinessline’ exclusively.
Speaking on the company’s plans, Paul de Voijs, managing director, Volvo Auto India, said, “India is the next growth destination in the Asia Pacific region and Volvo Cars is committed to be a part of this growth. In keeping with our strategy until now we have concentrated on laying a strong foundation for our brand. Our mantra for 2010 will be to strengthen our presence in the country. Our goal is to become a trusted automobile luxury brand in the Indian market. We are planning to launch two new models — the Volvo XC60 and S60 — in the next two years in India. The XC60 will be launched in 2010 and S60 will be unveiled by the end of 2011.We are not in number games. We have come to India for the long-term.”
“Going forward we will focus on creating a more powerful, modern and at the same time warmer image of the brand. Safety has always been a cornerstone of the company philosophy. The next step would be to continue to maintain and strengthen that with a holistic approach towards innovative technology,” De Voijs further added.