For a ride less ordinary

The next time you are planning a bus ride from Mumbai to Goa or Delhi to Jaipur, expect some extra comfort and luxury. And it won’t be long before this extra luxury hits your city roads. A fleet of new Volvo buses, comprising coaches and city buses, will soon joined its forerunners on the Indian roads and beyond.

The expansion is a conscious strategy of Volvo to stretch its market share in Asia, where the group hopes to pick up more than 50 per cent of its bus sales by the year 2015. The new range of buses includes three new models — India’s first multi-axle 14.5 meter luxury coach (Volvo 9400PX), the first multi-axle 14.5 meter city bus (Volvo 7400XL), and developed in India for the first time, the Volvo 9100, aimed specifically at the tier 2 cities in the country. Then there’s the world’s first commercially viable hybrid bus (Volvo 7700 Hybrid) that will be unveiled at the 11th Auto Expo 2012.

Speaking about the big introduction of heavy buses in India, Hakan Karlsson, president, Volvo Bus Corporation, says, “With an expanded range of Volvo buses, we aim to accelerate sales growth in India and Asia. To this end, we have adopted capacity investment plans and plans for regional product development to cater to tier 2 cities. We are hopeful of increasing sales in India to 5,000 units from the present 1,000 units per year. While India and China are our key markets in Asia, we will start exporting from India to neighbouring countries and other parts of the world soon.” The company is looking at India to emerge as the second largest market globally over the next four years.

The launch came around three months after Volvo announced an investment of Rs 400 crore in India. “Having as many as 10 bus models and their variants today, Volvo has taken a significant step towards achieving its billion dollar vision. With accelerated sales, a wide range of models, world-class and environment-friendly features Volvo is already one of the biggest players in its segment in Asia,” asserts Akash Passey, managing director & CEO, Volvo Buses, India.

Volvo Bus Corporation is also focusing on strengthening its after-sales service centres in India, roping in skilled manpower for maintenance and is looking to unveil the new telematic platform at the Auto Expo this year. To raise the safety standards, the Swedish luxury bus-maker has also introduced the enhanced front under-run protection (FUP) and frontal impact protection (FIP) systems across all its coaches. While FIP is a frontal collision protection system that spreads the force of an impact into the entire frontal structure, the FUP system minimises the risk of injury in the event of a frontal collision between buses and cars.

Among the newly launched buses, the Volvo 9400PX claims to be the longest intercity coach yet in India, while the Volvo 7400XL has a steered axle ready to support the mass bus-based transport system in the country.