Volvo XC 60 V 90 Cross Country to get desi tag in India; see how

Swedish automaker Volvo Cars plans to locally assemble two more models — XC 60 and V 90 Cross Country — in India to strengthen business in the country. It currently assembles XC 90 and S 90 models at the Bengaluru-based manufacturing plant. The company is also in the final stages of opening a parts warehouse in India to help it supply spares to dealers at a faster clip.

“We are looking by mid-year for some addition of SPA (platform) cars in India,” Volvo Car India managing director Charles Frump said. The cars on SPA platform, which are yet to be localised in India are V90 Cross Country and XC 60, he added. Volvo Cars began local assembly of XC 90 model from Bangalore plant in October last year. This month it started local assembly of S 90 model from the facility.

Both, the models are also based on the company’s scalable SPA platform.

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With an aim to enhance speedy parts supplies to service centres, Frump said the company will be investing in central parts warehouse in India and expand Bengaluru plant as well.

“Overnight we can get parts to all our dealerships instead of getting them shipped from Sweden. It’s a huge advantage,” he added.

He, however, did not share location and investment details about the project.

When asked about new launches he said the company would drive in XC 40 model in India by July-August this year.

“The biggest gap that we have here (India portfolio) is that we don’t have a small SUV and XC 40 fills that gap,” Frump said.

Volvo Cars also plans to expand its sales network in India with plans to open one dealership every month this year.

“Right now we have 21 dealerships and we will get to 29 stores by the end of this year. So that will give us full coverage of India,” Frump said.

Volvo has been able to position itself in India as a clear alternative to German companies such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi, he claimed.