Mining ban impacts Volvo Trucks sale

Sale of Volvo trucks have declined from 1,100 in 2011 to 700 in 2013

Ban on iron ore mining and cancellation of coal block allocations besides a general slowdown in the economy had impacted the sales of Volvo trucks, according to VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) chief executive officer, Vinod Aggarwal.

VECV is a 50:50 joint venture between the Volvo group of Sweden and India’s Eicher Motors Limited. It sells Volvo trucks in India mainly to the mining sector. Its plant in Bangalore has a capacity to assemble 2,000 trucks a year.

Aggarwal told mediapersons here on Friday the sale of Volvo trucks declined from 1,100 in 2011 to 700 in 2013. Of the total sales, the mining sector accounted for 950 and 650 trucks respectively.

The company expects a rise in sales this year as the industrial production is expected increase 4 per cent. It was, however, looking forward for complete resumption of mining activity and opening up of coal blocks for registering a significant rise in sales.

VECV held Volvo Trucks India Fuel Watch 2014 competition at a Singareni Collieries coal mining site in Telangana recently to educate drivers on good driving practices to improve fuel efficiency.