Volvo Eicher to invest Rs 288 crore in India operations

The Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECL) joint venture between commercial vehicle manufacturer Eicher Motors (EML) and the world's second largest truck maker AB Volvo (Volvo) is all set for its next level and planning to invest a sum of Rs 288 crore in the company’s Pithampur facility in Madhya Pradesh. With this investment, the company is looking to develop a complete manufacturing facility. A part of this investment will also be used in the development of new medium duty engines which the company wants to incorporate in the Volvo group’s trucks and buses in the global portfolio.

Speaking to reporters, VECV Chief Executive Vinod Agarwal said that the firm will be ramping-up its engine production capacity to 1.60 lakh units by year 2016-17, compared to the existing capacity of 60,000 units.

In year 2011, the company registered sales of 49,000 vehicles, a growth of 25 per cent. The net sales of the company stood at Rs 4,916 crore. At present, the market share of Eicher buses in its segment is about 9.7 per cent.
The JV will use the Eicher brand for light and medium (LM) commercial vehicles, while the Volvo brand will be targeted at the premium heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) segment in the country. Eicher Motor's current portfolio also consists of heavy vehicles (50 tonnes and above) which they will continue to sell.