Volvo XC60 to be locally produced by the end of this quarter

-    Volvo India to start manufacturing the new-gen XC60 in the country by September 2018.

-    The SUV will be manufactured at the carmaker’s Bangalore facility.

-    Volvo currently manufacturers the S90 sedan and XC90 SUV in India.

At the launch of the newest member of the SUV family, the XC40, Volvo announced that the XC60 will be locally manufactured by the end of this quarter. The premium SUV will be built at the same Bangalore facility where the S90 and XC90 are currently being manufactured.

Volvo has aggressive expansion plans for the Indian car market. With the launch of the XC40, Volvo will take on the heavy hitters of the entry-level premium SUV segment. To serve its expanding portfolio, Volvo plans to ramp up its dealership network. The Swedish car plans to have five new dealerships across the country by the end of this year. A new dealership will come up every month increasing the total count to 27. 

Volvo has managed a healthy growth of 28 per cent in the country this year. The carmaker sold a record 2,029 units in the 2017 calendar year, their highest ever yearly sales. The carmaker aims to double the segment share by the end of 2020. Locally manufacturing their products will help Volvo keep the cost down in order to compete with well-established German players like Mercedes and BMW. 

However, there are no details of whether Volvo will make provision for building the cars based on the new Compact Modular Architecture (CMA). The newly-launched XC40 is based on this platform and all the new vehicles from Volvo and its Chinese owner, Geely, will be based on this platform. If Volvo decides to start producing CMA based cars in India, they could even benefit from exporting them to the international markets in Europe.