Volvo mulls to roll out Nissan Diesel, DongFeng trucks

New Delhi, Sept 10 (UNI) To capture the price-sensitive Indian market, Swedish truck and bus major Volvo is gearing up to bring entry-level trucks from its Nissan Diesel range and Chinese partner DongFeng Automobile Company, as its high-powered trucks are too expensive for the country's commercial vehicle market.

''We are in talks to bring Nissan and DongFeng's trucks in India, with 16-49 tonnes of capacity,'' company's Managing Director Eric Leblanc told reporters here today.

He did not divulge the time frame for the launch, adding that in the second phase, the company would launch below 16-tonne trucks into the country.

On being asked whether the range would be manufactured in the country, Mr Leblanc said, ''We have a plant in Bangalore which could be expanded with additional investment.'' However, he ruled out that the company would unveil Mack and Renault in the Indian market.

''Mack and Renault are very much similar to Volvo trucks available in India in terms of price, thereby would lead to the cannibalisation of the company,'' he said.

Currently, 2,00,000 trucks are sold in India.

The company has sold 400 buses and 1,000 trucks in the first six months of the calender year.

On the LCV entry, Mr Leblanc said Volvo is interested in considering a local partner in India to achieve greater volumes in the domestic market quickly.

''We expect a growth of 20 per cent in truck sales during this calender year and a similar hike in buses,'' he said.

Presently, Volvo is making its trucks between 25-40 tonnes which are being utilised in the mining sector, fire fighting, and so on, he said. Volvo exports its range to Korea, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from its India plant.

''To capture 20-25 per cent market share in the Asian commercial vehicles, we require a good presence in India and China,'' he said.

Volvo has a production capacity of 1,600 trucks and buses at its Bangalore facility.

He said that 20-30 per cent will be the localisation.

Nissan Diesel was formerly the truck-making arm of Nissan and is now a division of Volvo.

It is an established brand in Southeast Asia, while DongFeng is one of the largest commercial vehicle players in China.

Besides trucks, Volvo will introduce fully-built buses with an initial capacity of 500 units for the intra and inter-city transport.

UNI