As dealers started accepting bookings for the new Volvo XC90 in the first week of May with deliveries expected to begin in September, the number of enquiries pouring in projected the potential sales for the new SUV at around 450-500 units. But the carmaker plans to bring in only around 350 units of the new SUV this year.

 

“Next year, however, India will get around 1,000 units of the XC90 SUV as the company aims to ramp up production to 90,000 units worldwide,” Tomas Ernberg, managing director, Volvo Auto India, told Autocar India on Tuesday. Currently, Volvo’s worldwide production stands at 55,000 cars, of which, they have already sold 30,000 units, Ernberg added.

 

Moreover, the carmaker also plans to expand its dealership network across India by the end of this year to around 22 showrooms and workshops. Volvo currently has 14 showrooms and 15 servicing centers in India.

 

Head to Head

 

Quite surprisingly, the price of the new Volvo XC90, which will be brought in as a completely built unit, will be much lower than the new locally assembled BMW X5 and just marginally higher than the Audi Q7.

 

While the XC90 has a starting price of Rs 64.9 lakh for the Momentum trim, the entry-level BMW X5 Expedition is priced at Rs 68.9 lakh and the most affordable Audi Q7 3.0 Premium trim bears an asking price of Rs 64.35 lakh (all prices, ex-showroom, Delhi).

 

Specification-wise too, the Volvo SUV looks to give both rivals stiff competition. The BMW X5 gets bi-xenon headlamps as against the XC90’s LED headlights and a seating capacity of five due to the lack of third row seats compared to the seven-seater XC90.

 

Furthermore, the X5 and the Q7 lack a navigation system, remote control key with buttons and Intelligent Driver information system, a key safety feature; all available in the base Momentum trim of the new Volvo XC90.

 

Although when we drove the XC90, we found that the car does lack the additional refinement offered by the pair of extra cylinders on the engines of the X5 and Q7.

 

The XC90 also lacks a bit in terms of power output as the third-generation BMW X5 gets a 2993cc engine, which produces 255bhp and 57.1kgm and the Audi Q7 gets a 2967cc engine which produces 240bhp and 56kgm of torque, 30 bhp and 15 bhp higher, respectively, than the XC90.

 

The new Volvo XC90 SUV was launched at a starting price of Rs 64.9 lakh for the Momentum trim and Rs 77.9 lakh for the Inscription trim (all prices, ex-showroom, Mumbai without Octroi).

 

Nishant Parekh