BANGALORE, July 10: Volvo India, the 100% subsidiary of the $ 28 bn automobile giant, Volvo AB, is diversifying its operations to manufacture buses and construction equipment in the country.In an interview to The Indian Express, Volvo India managing director Ravi Uppal said that the company would shortly be setting up two separate divisions, Volvo Buses and Volvo Construction Equipment. These would cater to the manufacture of city buses and equipment, including loaders, excavators and articulated haulers.Volvo India has currently two divisions. One is the truck division which oversees the heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) business, while Volvo Penta looks after the construction of power gensets.The company has already started building resources for new activities. It has commissioned feasibility studies and a marketing survey for the project, he said. The divisions will be fully functional by the year-end, he said. The company is also open to the idea of spinning-off the divisions into separate companies in future."Volvo is more interested in being involved with infrastructure projects in the country," said Uppal. The company will concentrate on four areas including bulk transportation of people, heavy-commercial venhicles, construction equipment and power gensets, he said."We want to sell products which are needed by the doemstic industry. The company does not want to impose anything on customers just because we are manufacturing them," said Uppal. The group has also put the Volvo car project on the backburner, he said.The company will unveil demo buses by the year-end or early 1998. Volvo will also be setting up a separate assembly line for buses at its Hoskote plant near Bangalore. This may take only 10-12 months to be commissioned, and Uppal hoped that production would begin by the end of 1998. Volvo is planning to come out with a combination of city buses including the low-floor buses, double-deckers and medium-floor buses. The two-axles buses will be powered by 250 hp engines. The buses which will meet the Euro-2 norms will have a capacity of 250 passengers.The company has not fully ascertained the cost of setting up the assembly line for buses as it is still in the process of finalising their design, he said.
