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BY OUR AUTOMOBILES CORRESPONDENT
8 July, 2005: For intercity travelers in India, the Volvo bus is a familiar experience. The roads are getting better, and Volvos are there to make your long distance
traveling experience even better. Mumbai Pune, and Mumbai - Bangalore are some of the major routes in India where Volvo buses operate.
Now Volvo is poised to enter the Indian city bus market in Bangalore. By Indian standards, Volvos are supposed to be mroe expensive than the locally manufactured buses from Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland. However, the long term maintenance and running costs are supposed to be much lower, and this ahs already been proven in the intercity bus market in India.
”India is fast becoming one of our key markets,” says Rune Lundberg, Senior Vice-President Region International. “The country is already among Volvo Buses’ top ten markets in the world.”
The Indian intra-city bus market is estimated to have annual sales of 10,000-12,000 city buses.
The 25 intra-city Volvo buses ordered by Bangalore will be delivered to the city by end-2005.
The buses will be the Volvo B7RLE chassis and will be assembled at Volvo’s factory in Bangalore. The buses will have 7000 cc diesel engines that meet Euro 3 emission regulations. The body is built on the same design as the Volvo 8700, which is currently used in Europe.
”Our intercity coaches have already changed the way people perceive luxury coaches in this country,” says Akash Passey, head of Volvo Buses in India. “Now Volvo city buses have the ability to do the same in Indian cities – providing sustainable public transport solutions, that keeps pace with the rapid development and growth our cities face’.
BY OUR AUTOMOBILES CORRESPONDENT |
