Scania to set up new facility in Bangalore

Scania Commercial Vehicles India will set up a plant in Narasapura Industrial Area, Bangalore. This plant will serve as a complete knock down assembly unit for truck and bus chassis during phase 1 of its operations. Bus body building of city buses and coaches and service workshops for trucks and buses will also be part of this facility at a later point of time. Scania will employ upto 800 people in this facility over the next five years. Last year, Scania announced its plans for India and the growing importance of India for Scania globally. The investment in India is in line with this commitment towards this market. Scania envisages around 2000 heavy haulage trucks and 1000 inter-city buses and coaches to be rolled out from this plant within five years. Besides these vehicles, Scania is also preparing to sell engines to its OEM customers. These engines are more compact, resulting in lesser fuel consumption, leading to lower emissions. Said Henrik Fagrenius, Managing Director, Scania, “This investment furthers Scania’s committed to the Indian market and this is the right moment for us. With the commercial vehicles segment likely to register a higher volume growth of 8-10pc this year, the outlook for the industry is very promising.” Scania’s direct presence will further boost the company’s sales, service, greater variety of models sold and shorter availability time. Scania provides high service levels that give high uptime and low operational cost to customers. Scania’s strategies for India are innovative, offering value through lower total cost of ownership, for customers and will bring in the best products and services. Scania foresees a number of benefits with establishing the new plant. Fagrenius further added, “This unit will enable us to shorten our lead times and enhance service levels to our customers. This will also go a long way in sourcing of components locally from India”.