[aerohit]

Volvo plans to sell 400-500 cars, launch new models
270 words
23 August 2008
English





Chandigarh, Aug 23 (PTI) -- Volvo Car India (VCI) today said it plans to strengthen its dealer network and sell 400-500 in the country by the end of this fiscal and launch 2-3 new models in future.


"In addition to our dealers in Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh, we will soon have our dealers in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Cochin and Pune. Our target is to sell 400-500 cars by the end of this fiscal," the VCI's Managing Director Paul de Voijs told reporters here on the sidelines of a function, in which the company gifted a Rs 44-lakh sedan to Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra. Volvo, which has 10 cars in its portfolio at the moment, is also looking at launching 2-3 new models in future after testing and seeing the market response in India, where it has so far sold 100 cars after its launch less than a year back.


Voijs said the company also plans to aggresively target potential buyers directly, marking a "shift from advertising".
Asked if VCI had any plans to put up an assembly line, he said they would be able to take such a decision after about a year when the company would have tested the market.


Part of Volvo's portfolio at the moment include three sedans, 1 station wagon, two convertibles and three cross-over model range.


VCI, a division of Ford Motor Company, had launched two of its flagship models, Volvo S80, one of whose top end variant was gifted to Abhinav, and Volvo XC90, in September 2007.

[Sahil]

Volvo needs to focus on brand building activities. They don't have much of an image in India and their claim to fame of being "The safest car in the world " is long gone too.

[amit]

They should launch the S40 and C30 here. S40 will be a great alternative to the German trio and should give a good fight to them if Volvo plays their marketing strategy well.

S40 should be priced against or preferably slightly less then the German sedans and the C30 can take on the Fiat 500, Fiat Bravo and top end Laura and Jetta.

[mjothi]

More than the actual launch news, the figures in bold caught my attention. Good to see such MNC's "recognizing" those talents. Hope more of Indians manufactures will follow

[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by mjothi

Good to see such MNC's "recognizing" those talents. Hope more of Indilans manufactures will follow

OT: I would rather recommend to give it to the other medalists as they are from a really backward area. Abhinav already has 10 cars and one mroe addition to his collections and that it. Whether he will kepp it or drive it is a different matter altogether.

[nickatnite]

At what price, though?. This kind of news is fine and dandy, but if the product is priced out of the reach of even the well heeled, then what is the point, really?. Who's fooling who?.

[ajmat]

Giving a luxury car to an individual may not always be the right thing. Sponsoring for higher things - definately

[GTO]

Unless Volvo learn to price their cars competitively, they really aren't getting anywhere. Volvo simply doesn't have the brand value or product advantage to compete at the same price level as the well-established Mercedes / BMW duo.

Originally Posted by Sahil

Volvo needs to focus on brand building activities. They don't have much of an image in India

Tell 'em about it! It doesn't help when most of India associates you with buses rather than cars.

[snaronikar]

IMO, the pricing of cars, A**, Spares has to be right to make any impact on the market. Hope they have done their homework properly.

[AMATMO]

the only way of volvo doing well in india is if they price their cars lower than the germans thats it

and i am not sure if they have any such intention

[evo]

In cricket crazy India, Volvo should gift cars to cricketers if they want to improve their brand! However that didnt work too well for Fiat, did it!Hehe!

Abhinav`s father was supposedly the first customer for Volvo in Punjab when he bought his XC90.(express india).

Haha, they choose the richest athlete to give something to!

[SumitBahl]

^^
You are right. His father was the first customer in Chandigarh.
There was a complete article in yesterdays newspaper with photo.

Abhinav Bindra was gifted a 44lac S50.

[shajufx]

S40, S80 and XC90 could be good hits in Indian market if the promotion and pricing are done well, considering the ever-increasing brand fights in the indian automobile sector. Volvo definitely scores one of the top brands with the highest safety features, but sadly Indian crowd knows them as AC buses both inter-state and city services.

Anyone knows of some development in the dealership across south ? atleast in Bangalore ? I have seen atleast three XC90 here and not a single sedan, may be there are few. Do they all take their services from Mumbai ?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Volvo definitely scores one of the top brands with the highest safety features, but sadly Indian crowd knows them as AC buses both inter-state and city services.

That's marketing talk. Volvo's competitors - Benz, BMW & Audi - are just as safe (if not more).

[DKG]

During my career I have sold Volvo cars for three years and even won a trip to the plant in Sweden. Volvo cars are without a doubt right at the top when it comes to safety research and design. But to say that they are in the same league as BMW and Mercedes is simply not true. Perhaps on safety issues the car is second to none but dynamically the Germans are still ahead. About a decade ago you could say that Audi was a fair comparison.

But Audi seems to have moved the game higher with better engineered cars and now Volvo at best can compete for a slot between VW calibre cars and Audi. Actually one should look at the global sales volumes of Audi and Volvo to see where Volvo should fit.

So if Volvo is to fight in a competitive market they would need to position the cars a shade below the Audi BMW Merc trio and sell at a level just ahead of VW. Otherwise I doubt they would do any volumes to justify a network of independent dealers.