Volvo plans to launch double decker and vestibule buses

Volvo is planning to launch its double decker and vestibule buses in the country in the next three to five years, Volvo Buses India Managing Director Akash Passey said here today.

"We are planning to introduce our entire range of models we have in our parent company kitty in the next three to five years," he said.

Volvo currently offers two models of luxury coaches and city-type buses from its Bangalore facility.

"We are also introducing sleeper coaches in Gujarat and Karnataka from next month where demand for such transport is very high," Passey said.

The company registered a jump of 50 per cent in its sales over the last year owing to bulk orders by different state transport corporations under the JNNURM project.

In 2008, Volvo sold 400 buses of which 250 were city-type and the rest coaches, while this year the company has sold 600 buses most of which are city type. "We plan to hold on to the 600 sales figure, though there will be no JNNURM in 2010," Passey said.

He claimed that the company was making rapid progress in the city bus segment with 12 cities in the country now running Volvo buses, which are four-times expensive. But given the operational benefits and longer life, operators are shifting to it.