Volvo Group ready to launch buses with BS-VI engines

Swedish automaker Volvo Group on Monday said that the company is ready to roll out buses fitted with Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI) engines in India from April 1, 2020. The company manufactures BS-VI-compliant engines at Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh, while the buses are manufactured at Hoskote near Bengaluru.

"We are not new to BS-VI technology. We have been making Euro-6-compliant buses at Hoskote and export to Volvo's home base in Europe since 2017. As and when customers place orders for BS-VI buses, we are ready to supply," Suresh Chettiar, Business Head - Volvo Buses, South Asia & VP, Volvo Bus Corporation told DH.

Volvo Buses, currently, uses its manufacturing plant in Bengaluru to export buses to Europe. The company, which started its bus sales in India during 2001, established a bus manufacturing plant in the country in 2008. The company has set up a full-fledged bus manufacturing plant at Hoskote including a paint shop, body building, R&D centre, test track and training centre for driver training. Its current capacity is 1,500 buses per annum.

Since entering the Indian market, Volvo has sold over 7,000 buses (both intra-city and inter-city) in as many as 35 Indian cities. The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) is the largest customer of Volvo buses till date with close to 900 buses.

Electric bus strategy

Chettiar said the company is also ready to launch electric and hybrid buses in India and is waiting for clarity from the government on specifications before participating in government tenders. “We are not participating in tenders for electric buses due to lack of clarity. Once we get the specifications properly defined by the government, we will launch our products. However, we have the technology and we are ready to offer at an appropriate time,” he said.

Volvo is interested in offering turnkey solutions rather than participating in the open tenders. The company has enough capacity at its Hoskote plant to manufacture electric buses as and when it plans to introduce them in India, he added.