VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) announced an investment of Rs. 2,880 million in its Pithampur plant for the production and final assembly of the Volvo group’s new global medium duty engine platform.
According to Par Ostberg, President, Trucks Asia, Volvo Group and Chairman, VE Commercial Vehicles, “This investment by VECV in its Pithampur plant gives the Volvo group a complete facility in India for manufacturing and assembling the new mediumâ€duty engine which will be introduced in the Volvo group’s trucks and buses worldwide over the next few years. Additionally, these engines will also be used for Eicher’s range of heavy duty commercial vehicles. â€
Due to this investment, it will be possible for the Volvo Group to locate most of its production of medium duty engines to VECV’s plant in Pithampur. VECV is already producing about 40,000 engines per year in its existing Pithampur plant. The new investment in Pithampur will result in an annual production capacity of an additional 85,000 engines. In addition to production of the base engine itself, the facility in Pithampur will also conduct final assembly of engines for India and all of Volvo Group’s global markets with Euro 3 and Euro 4 emission requirements.
According to Siddhartha Lal, MD & CEO, VE Commercial Vehicles, “VECV has been entrusted with building the mediumâ€duty engine for Volvo group’s global requirements at our facility in Pithampur. This is possibly the largest such project in India and certainly the most technologically advanced – as we will be producing base engines capable of Euro 6 emission norms."
In addition to VECV’s investment in India, the Volvo group is making an additional investment of Rs. 2,766 million in Volvo Powertrains (VPT) production plants in Ageo, Japan and Venissieux, France. The new medium duty platform comprises 5, 7 and 8 litre engines in configurations from 215 to 350 horsepower. The engines are based on the Volvo Group’s new PSS engines and will be manufactured to cope with emission requirements according to the Japanese PNLT (Post New LongTerm), the US EPA 2010, as well as Euro 3, 4, 5 and Euro 6.
The 5 and 8 litre engines will be produced and assembled in India while the 7 litre engine will be produced and assembled only in Japan. Pithampur will be the industrial base for the manufacture of medium duty base engines; capacity of 85,000 base engines per year; starting 2012. It will also do the final assembly of 55,000 engines per year; starting 2012. These will meet the Volvo group’s global requirements of Euro 3 and Euro 4 engines as well as VECV’s requirement of Eicher heavy duty commercial vehicles.
30,000 base engines will be sent from Pithampur to VPT’s plant in Venissieux, France where these base engines will be assembled for the Volvo group’s Euro 5 and Euro 6 requirements; starting 2013. According to Peter Karlsten, President, Volvo Powertrain, “A global manufacturing hub at VECV’s Pithampur plant is an excellent example of how the Volvo group can leverage its global presence to reduce costs for engine manufacture while making maximum use of its industrial strength. VECV already has a robust supply chain network and with this new development, VECV becomes integrated with the Volvo Group’s global supply chain.†It sure seems Volvo is moving to greener pastures and taking the world with them.
