If the big SUV market is growing bigger by every passing day in India, then Volvo has hit the bulls’ eye with the launch of new XC90. This flagship SUV of Volvo is quite glamorous on the new face. That fresh set of headlamp infused with daytime running lights and the vertically slatted grille makes it up for the new-gen avatar at the first sight.
However, the launch concluded couple of days back, a source of industry now reported the dealerships of this carmaker needs more units to make the sale conveniently. As per the projections, Volvo reported to import 350 units to comply with the deliveries that will start in September, but as the number of enquiries are pouring in dealers of this country expect 400-450 are needed to fill the gap between demand and supply.
However, Volvo India doesn’t have a manufacturing facility locally, which makes it to imports its entire lineup of cars from abroad as a completely built unit. However, speaking to a source, the maker has revealed, by next year India will receive 1000 units of the SUV as company plans to speed up the production to 90,000 units. Working out on the statistics, Volvo holds current production capacity of 55,000 units of which 30,000 units are already sold.
Over the top, Volvo aims to increase number of dealerships in India, which by the end of this year the Swedish carmaker aims to turn that number up to 22 with same number of workshops. Now, it enjoys the retail from 14 showrooms and 15 service centers.
New-gen Volvo XC90 is launched in two trims: Momentum Luxury and Inscription Luxury. The former is tagged for Rs 64.9 lakh, the latter with Rs 77.9 lakh (ex-showroom Mumbai, pre-Octroi). In the rivalry, new XC90 rivals the likes of Audi Q7 and BMW X5. But under the bonnet it lacks the strength than those duos due to a 2.0-litre diesel engine of 225bhp max power delivered at 4,250 rpm, and 470 Nm of torque sent between 1,750-2,500 rpm. The traction is controlled via 8-speed automatic transmission, and is transferred to all-four wheels for the max-speed of 230km/h.
