A Volvo India spokesman attending the XC90 international test drive event in Spain said “there are many stories” when asked about recent reports the automaker was scouting for a contract assembler in the country.
He added there wasn’t yet enough sales volume to justify a plant investment.
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As reported on just-auto last week, Volvo was said to be in discussions with General Motors (GM) India, Hindustan Motors (HM) and Mahindra & Mahindra to see if it could use the manufacturing facilities of one of these companies to assemble some of its models in India.
The Swedish automaker was looking to assemble its vehicles in the country to increase volumes and reduce prices, The Economic Times reported citing PTI.
Volvo India and Mahindra declined to comment at the time.
“It is absolutely speculation. We have decided to increase exports significantly and our capacities will be utilised for that,” P Balendran, General Motors India vice-president, said.
Hindustan Motors said: “We have not been approached by anyone as yet. At this point in time we would not be in a position to comment any further.”
A source said, “They are keen to have local assembly but they have not yet taken a final decision on whether to set up an assembly unit of their own or outsource it to a third party. The project is in initial stages only.”
Volvo aims to hold around 15% share of the Indian luxury car market in the next five years, and it needs to start assembling vehicles in the country to achieve this target.
