Volvo to locally assemble the XC60 in India
Volvo Auto India has announced that it the XC60 will be locally assembled by the end of September 2018. At present, the XC60 is imported via the CBU route. Local manufacturing is expected to reduce costs and help the Swedish manufacture compete against the German trio- BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi. At present, Volvo assembles the S90 luxury sedan and the XC90 at its factory in Bengaluru.
The announcement was made at the launch of the new XC40 in India. Priced at Rs 39.9 lakh( ex-showroom), the new XC40 goes up against the Audi Q3 and Mercedes-Benz GLA. While Volvo has not announced plans to locally manufacture the XC40, the possibility of this happening in the future cannot be ruled out. Volvo could also consider expanding its production capacity to export cars to other markets.
Volvo is on an aggressive expansion plan in India which includes dealership and service network expansion. The company is set to open five new dealerships in India by the end of 2018. The plan is to open one dealership every month to take the total number of Volvo passenger car dealers to twenty-seven.
The new XC60 is the most feature loaded vehicle in its segment, something that we appreciated in the comparison test with the new BMW X3 and the Audi Q5. It is also the only vehicle in its segment to get radar-based safety systems, in India. This is because the radar frequencies that Volvo uses are approved by the Government of India. The frequencies that the German manufacturers use are yet to be approved.