In its bid to meet its ambitious target of US $1 billion revenues and sell as many as 5,000 buses a year in India, Volvo Buses India announced the launch of a range of city bus and coaches to target both the tier 1 as well as tier II cities of the country. Addressing newspersons in New Delhi, Hakan Karlsson, President, Volvo Bus Corporation noted that his company’s new products would ideally suit second tier of routes and cities in the country.
The new buses launched include the Volvo 9400PX, India’s first multi-axle coach at 14.5m and with steered axle, the Volvo 7400XL, India’s first multi-axle bus with a steered axle , and the Volvo 9100 coach, meant for the tier II routes. The launches, take the company’s bus range to 10 different products.
Volvo has also taken unilateral step of raising safety standards by introducing enhanced Front Under-run Protection (FUP) & Frontal Impact Protection (FIP) systems across all its coaches.
“About three months ago we promised that we will play a bigger role in the progress of the Indian bus industry and announced an investment of INR400crore. Today, we stand here with a product range that will take us there. Most importantly, our focus remains to drive quality of life and with our current range we will be spreading the Volvo experience to a larger market in the country. We have defined a clear role for India in the future – as one of the largest markets in the group, a global hub for selected models, local product development and that utilises the synergies we hold as a group in India. Today, we can proudly say we have set our foundation,” noted Karlsson.
Akash Passey, Managing Director & CEO, Volvo Buses in South Asia, said, “In one single step we are bringing in products equal to that what we did in the last decade. We now have the local competence & experience to raise the momentum of change manifold. This is just as we expand our market access and raise standards & expectations. We are on our way to reaching our vision of a 1 billion dollar company with 5,000 buses produced each year. Importantly, with every new product we are touching areas of national and human value – improved fuel efficiency, reduced emissions, attractive public transport, safer & comfortable travel. We are ensuring that, with Volvo, our customers are No.1 in their own business, while more & more passengers in the country experience bus travel – the way the world moves.”
Volvo 9400PX: It is longer, more spacious, more high-performing and comes with a host of new features to make travel even more comfortable. At 14.5m the Volvo 9400PX is the longest intercity coach yet in India. The Volvo 9400PX is built on the new light-weight Volvo PX platform, which provides even better grade ability and acceleration as well as enhanced stability& larger luggage space. The new coach also packs a performance with the new Volvo 11-litre engine with 370hp. A key feature is the steerable tag-axle for better road handling and manoeuvrability. Another key feature of the Volvo 9400PX is the Volvo I-Shift gearbox. This automatic gear changing system provides high drive & ride comfort, better fuel economy and offers high braking power of 400 to 600 kW. The spacious interiors offer a range of opportunities for customers to incorporate a range of passenger conveniences from pantry, toilets, VOD and a range of other features – for smooth long-distance travel.
Volvo 7400XL: It is India’s first multi-axle bus with a steered axle. At 14.5m, it is India’s first city bus ready to support efficient mass bus-based transport systems to move more people, with fewer buses, quicker & with less resource utilisation. If the Volvo 7400 helped move people away from their personal vehicles and save fuel, emissions, road space – the Volvo 7400XL will do this with even greater intensity. The reason is straightforward; the Volvo 7400XL can carry almost 55pc more people and as a result improve upon fuel, emissions and road space consumption by as much as 30pc.
Volvo 9100 coach: The coach is a global introduction for Asia, from Asia. This new coach is an integral part of Volvo Buses’ ambition to drive quality of transport across the country to more & more cities and routes. The engine is optimised for a range of driving conditions and is backed by Volvo’s rich experience of 10 years in high performing bus applications on Indian roads. The new Volvo coach is designed to meet medium haulage applications and has been designed to take the Volvo experience to millions of new passengers.
The company will be displaying the world’s first commercially viable hybrid – Volvo 7700 Hybrid at the Auto Expo 2012
The Volvo 7700 Hybrid is a commercially-produced hybrid bus model. It has been on the market for some years already and both fuel savings and reliability have been proven in commercial operation. The Volvo hybrid technology is probably the most versatile driveline solution there is when it comes to combining environmental improvement with performance, economy and uptime.