Sweden's Scania to set up assembly plant in Bangalore

Swedish truck maker Scania today said it will expand its operations in India and plans to set up an assembly plant in Bangalore, besides looking to introduce heavy haulage trucks and luxury buses.

The company, which has been selling mining trucks in the country in partnership with L&T since 2007-08, has formed an Indian, arm Scania Commercial Vehicles India and will hire 100 people as it gears up to start assembling heavy haulage trucks by next year.

"We will set up a regional product centre at Bangalore for assembling heavy haulage trucks and city and inter-city luxury buses," Scania Commercial Vehicles India Managing Director Henrik Fagrenius told reporters here.

While stating that the company has not finalised investments on the assembly plant, he said the company expects to operationalise it by next year and "about 100 people will be employed".

"Having this in place is a fundamental requirement for boosting of sales of our vehicles and engines," he said.

Asked about the capacity of the plant, Fagrenius, said: "In five years we are looking at 2,000 trucks and 1,000 buses."

The company is also looking at selling 1,500 engines for industrial and marine applications in India over the five year period, he added.

Fagrenius also said the company will start testing heavy haulage trucks and luxury buses for city and inter-city in India by September this year.

Scania's heavy trucks are in the range of 220 horse power to 730 horse power and it will decide which one to bring in India after the tests.

Asked if L&T will continue to be its distribution partner for the heavy haulage trucks and luxury buses, he said: "We have not closed any options on that. L&T will continue to play an important role in relation to Scania's sales and service in the Indian construction equipment market. Our own presence in the country will also strengthen L&T's position, since the company's Scania customers will benefit from a larger range of models, shorter delivery times and higher service availability."

So far, since 2007-08, the company has sold about 600 mining trucks in India.