The Hindu Business Line : Volvo India on the lookout for new export markets

Bangalore June 15 With Volvo's operations in India turning profitable, the truck maker plans to export its products to more countries such as China and Indonesia.

Addressing the India Innovation Summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Volvo India's Managing Director, Mr Eric Leblanc, said that with the Indian operations of Volvo being regarded as a centre of excellence, the company is now planning to export to countries such as China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Algeria and Myanmar. It already exports trucks to South Korea and some of neighbouring countries.

Profitable Venture

Volvo also sources components worth $100 million from India for its global operations, Mr Leblanc said. He said even though Volvo's trucks are priced at least three times higher than those sold by competitors in India, the truck maker has been able to sell enough trucks to make it a profitable venture in the country.

"Our focus was to shift the mindset from price to value proposition," Mr Leblanc said.

He said Volvo wanted the customers to understand that its trucks were more profitable to run than the others. For example, Volvo trucks consume 50 per cent less fuel and also operators need to buy less number of trucks to manage their operations.

It also put together a fleet management service for the customers to maximise the benefits to them.

It also started a five-day training course for the drivers and has till now trained 14,000 of them.

Global Solution

In the case of buses, a survey conducted by the company found out that the passengers were willing to pay higher fares if the buses were more efficient.

"We were able to prove that our buses could increase revenues because of higher occupancy rates," he said.

He said if Volvo had followed the normal global solution for the Indian market, it would not have been able to turn profitable in the country in such a short time.

The General Manager for operations, GE Global Research, Mr Gopichand Katragadda, said the Indian operations have received 100 patents during the last six years and has also filed over 500 patents.

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