Starting this year, Volvo Car India will launch one electric vehicle annually. The company will launch its XC40 Recharge in the later half of 2021.
“Starting this year we will launch one electric car every year in the Indian market and by 2030 we aspire to become a fully electric car company. This will reinforce our values and commitment towards sustainability and climate safety,” Jyoti Malhotra, Managing Director, Volvo Car India, said.
However, the company is still evaluating on the assembly or manufacturing of the vehicles in India and will decide in the later stage, Malhotra told BusinessLine on the sidelines of the unveiling of the XC40 Recharge here.
For the time being, the XC40 will be imported as the completely built unit (CBU). The company will launch the vehicle in October and will start booking from June and the price announcement, Malhotra said.
“Right now we are evaluating the level of localisation or completely knocked down (CKD) and seeing what is the best business case. Accordingly we will take a call,” he said. When asked if that wouldn’t have price impact, as there is an import duties of more than 100 per cent in a CBU, Malhotra said, “The pricings are a long-term thing and not a short-term thing. As I said we are still evaluting and will share at an appropriate time, on how we are going to do it. We will announce the price of the XC40 in June and a business case can be built after that.”
Plans to double volumes
He said Volvo was committed to becoming a leader in the fast-growing premium electric car market and plans to double its volumes in the next two years. “By 2025, electric cars should constitute 80 per cent of our annual sales,” he said.
Volvo globally had announced that by 2030, it intends to sell only fully electric cars and phase out any car, in the portfolio, with an internal combustion engine, including hybrids. And, as part of its sustainability initiatives, the company announced that it aims to become carbon neutral by 2040.
‘Green Dealerships’
The company is also gearing towards having all its dealerships in India becoming ‘Green Dealerships’.
It is undertaking skill upgradation of its dealer workforce to familiarise them with the new technology of electric cars as well as to respond to the exacting requirements of its customers, Malhotra said.
