Volvo India has set itself an ambitious target of achieving annual sales of 10,000 units by 2018. The figure represents a ten-fold increase in sales for the carmaker that sold 936 cars in 2013. Incidentally, 2013 was the best year for Volvo in India with interest in the V40 Cross Country driving up sales to an all-time high.
Volvo is confident its spate of launches over the coming years will considerably help enhance demand. The year 2014 will see the introduction of the XC60 and S60 with engines from Volvo’s new Drive-E family of 2.0-litre petrol and diesel motors. This will be followed by the introduction of the all-new XC90 that will be revealed at the Paris motor show this October. The ageing S80 sedan will also be replaced in late 2015 by the new S90.
Further down the road, the new XC60 and S60 will complete the revitalisation of the Volvo range. Interestingly, all the cars headed to India will be made on Volvo’s SPA or Scalable Product Architecture and will use the same set of 2.0-litre engines.
To meet the expected spurt in demand, Volvo has confirmed that it will assemble cars at an upcoming facility in Karnataka. At present, Volvo imports all cars into India as completely built units or CBUs that attract maximum duties. Lower pricing should help Volvo gain more ground in the luxury segment that is increasingly becoming a hotbed for intense price wars.