Volvo underscore commitment to India

Excon 2011 press conference provides platform to highlight major product and manufacturing initiatives

VOLVO Construction Equipment’s Asian regional president Vincent Tan (pictured) used his Excon 2011 press conference speech in Bangalore last week to demonstrate confidence in the long-term growth prospects for India and to highlight the fact that India remains strategically important for Volvo CE.

Outlining the company’s progress on introducing local excavator production, he gave an update on the company’s SEK144 million expansion programme at its Peenya facilities, which will see excavators mass produced locally in 2012.

Highlights of this initiative include a quadrupling of the dealer network, major investments in the company’s Bangalore plant and the introduction of over 40 new machines and non-machine technologies.

Mr Tan also introduced several new products to the Indian market, including the locally produced EC210B Prime and EC290BLC Prime excavators, the 70-tonne EC700C crawler excavator, the DD100 and SD110 compactors, the award-winning L220G wheel loader and the P6820 asphalt paver.

Underlining Volvo CE’s confidence in India, Mr Tan highlighted the efforts being made to expand and strengthen the distribution network in India, which has grown from three dealerships in 1997 to today’s 13 dealers and 860 sales and service personnel.

‘With demand up 20% in 2011 alone, the Indian market is both expanding rapidly and maturing rapidly,’ said Mr Tan. ‘Customers are not just demanding quality products that are tailored to their needs, they also want rapid parts and servicing support, and are becoming more confident in new technologies, such as CareTrack remote telematics.

‘The country has a tremendous need for infrastructure development, and there has never been a better or more optimistic time to focus on India for those companies willing to invest in products and distribution.’