Volvo Evaluating Local Assembly Of Three Models In India

Currently, Volvo has its assembly plant next to its commercial vehicle manufacturing facility at Hoskote, near Bangalore. The CKD assembly unit is equipped to assemble cars based on the Scalable Platform Architecture (SPA). Now, Volvo plans to assemble the V90 Cross Country, S90 sedan and XC60 SUV in the country.

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MD of Volvo Auto India, Charles Frump said, "We will start with cars in our SPA platform to assemble locally - S90, V90 Cross Country, and XC60. That is clearly our strategy to broaden the number of cars that are built locally."

The Volvo V90 Cross Country estate draws power from a 2-litre turbocharged diesel engine producing 225bhp and 480Nm of torque. The engine comes mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox. The V90 Cross Country is equipped with an all-wheel-drive system from Borg-Warner offered as standard.

The Volvo V90 Cross Country is priced at Rs 60 lakh ex-showroom (Mumbai). Now, with the local assembly, Volvo will be able to price its vehicles more aggressively as the tax rates for CKD assembled cars are much lower as opposed to CBU units.

Competitive pricing will help Swedish automaker to boost its sales in India. Other brands such as Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover and Mercedes Benz already assemble their vehicles in India. Volvo is the latest manufacturer to join the bandwagon.

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The Volvo V90 Cross Country is an estate car, a niche segment in the country. If Volvo's evaluation of assembling the four models in India is finalised, the company will be able to price the vehicles more aggressively.