Volvo buses face competition

S M Kannappa Automobiles Ltd, the Bangalore-based luxury coach building company, on Friday announced the launch of its luxury road liner Prakash 8000 Classic+.

The new model has a business and executive class with independent LCD panels for video viewing and an onboard snack bar. The seats in the business class will have deep reclining options for better comfort, company chairman C K Narotham said.

He told reporters that the bus is priced at Rs 32-35 lakh (Rs 3.2-3.5 million) depending on the customer's choice of options. The new model will compete with Volvo's buses. The company expects to sell around 300 of these buses during 2006 to leading private bus operators and state transport undertakings, Narotham said.

The new model has a contemporary ambience and seeks to deliver the comfort of air travel on road. The latest offering has air-conditioning with air blowers, spacious individual seats in business class and twin seats in the executive class.

Built on an Ashok Leyland chassis, the new bus is 12 metre long and is comparable to global models in its category, claims Narotham.

The company, in business for four decades, sold 600 buses last year.

At Rs 25 lakh (Rs 2.5 million) per bus, this works out to an annual turnover of Rs 150 crore. The company is privately held. It claims to the leader in luxury buses in the country. Their newest launch is an attempt to face the competition posed by Volvo.

For the present fiscal, the company has bagged an order from the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation to build 150 non-AC luxury buses under its branded service 'Rajahamsa'.

The company has the capacity to produce 700 buses of all types in a year.