Scania to supply 120 buses to Siddhi Vinayak Logistics

Swedish commercial vehicles maker Scania today said it has bagged an order to supply 120 premium buses to Siddhi Vinayak Logistics over the next one year.

The foreign firm's wholly-owned subsidiary Scania Commercial Vehicles India will supply the buses through completely imported route.

"Scania Commercial Vehicles India has won a large order of multi-axle intercity buses from Siddhi Vinayak Logistics Ltd (SVLL)," the auto maker said in a statement.

The delivery of the buses will start this year and will be over in the next one year.

The company, however, did not mention the size of the order in terms of value.

SVLL, which has over 4,000 trucks in its fleet, is buying these vehilces from Scania to foray into the luxury bus segment in India.

"This order underlines the strong relationship that Scania and Siddhi Vinayak have developed over time.

"Siddhi Vinayak Logistics has already seen the value of Scania's low cost of ownership through our trucks and the bus purchase is further testimony to the confidence that they have in our vehicles," Scania Group Senior Vice President Anders Grundstromer said.

Scania is at present investing about Rs 250 crore to start its manufacturing plant in Bangalore. It is estimated that almost 800 people will be employed at the facility .

Production is expected to start in mid-2013.

The company has set a target sell about 2,500 trucks, 1,000 buses per year in the Indian market within the next five years.

Scania has been represented in the Indian market since 2007, when a partnership was initiated with Larsen & Toubro. L&T has established Scania's trucks and services and has developed a close partnership with customers in the mining industry.

L&T currently operates about 10 Scania service workshops at various mining sites in the country.

In 2011, Scania established the company Scania Commercial Vehicles India in order to boost its presence through sales to additional segments of the Indian commercial vehicle market.