The Hindu Business Line : Volvo eyes major share in luxury bus market

VOLVO India Pvt Ltd, which launched the Volvo B7R intercity luxury bus on the Kolkata-Puri route on Tuesday, hopes to garner a majority share of the Indian market for luxury buses on a sustainable basis in the years ahead.

In terms of percentage growth in the luxury buses segment, Volvo India hopes to grow at 30-35 per cent annually, against the industry growth of around 15 per cent per annum.

Volvo India, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the $31-billion turnover Volvo of Sweden, has its commercial vehicles manufacturing facility in Bangalore. Since setting up shop a few years ago, the company has invested around Rs 300 crore there. Volvo luxury buses are operational in over 80 countries globally.

At an interaction with presspersons here, Mr Akash Passey, Head & Vice-President (Volvo Buses- South Asia) of Volvo India, said in volume terms, the domestic market for luxury buses has been pegged at around 850 units. In 2005, Volvo sold 400 luxury buses, up from 300 buses sold in 2004. Besides, intercity luxury buses, the company would also focus on city buses that are especially designed for congestedtraffic conditions.

Mr Passey said with the population in the cities exploding and roads becoming crowded, personalised private transport had ceased to be a preferred mode of transport. Increasingly, people were looking for other options that would also make travel comfortable. "It's time the governmentprovides citizens with a good public transport system. We are offering a bus that is designed to meet this specific need; a bus that has been designed to tackle congestion on the roads and also to cut down on travelling time", he said.

According to him, over 1,000 Volvo luxury buses are operational across the country. On the Mumbai-Pune route alone, over 100 such buses are plying. Among the company's customers are several state road transport corporations.

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