VOLVO INAUGURATES NEW BUS PLANT IN INDIA
Volvo Buses at January 31 inaugurated a new body plant in Bangalore, India. This means that the company gains a base for production of complete buses for India and other strongly growing markets in Asia.
Since the first introduction in India in 2001, Volvo Buses has manufactured chassis together with Volvo Trucks in an own plant in Bangalore. The bodies were produced by an external body builder, Jaico Automobiles. Now, when Volvo Buses takes the step to start its own body plant adjacent to the chassis plant, it is to increase flexibility with regard to production capacity and to further improve quality. The body plant is being operated in a new joint-venture company with the cooperation partner Jaico Automobiles. The company is named Volvo Bus Body Technologies India and Volvo Buses holds a 70% ownership interest.
The new plant has a capacity of 1,000 buses annually and the company expects to have about 600 employees at the end of this year. The plant will primarily build Volvo Buses for the Indian market, but the company expects to be able to export complete buses to other markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Volvo Buses claims to be the market leader in India with regard to luxury, air-conditioned coaches. In conjunction with the inauguration of the plant, the company is launching an updated version of the Volvo 9400 coach. The Volvo B7RLE city bus is also sold in India.