Earlier, Volvo had evinced interest in setting up a unit near Chittoor after a meeting with Transport Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana and the then managing director of APSRTC M V Krishna Rao.
"Volvo gave up the idea, since Bangalore already has strong infrastructure in bus bodybuilding," the Minister told PTI.
Volvo was earlier outsourcing the bodybuilding in India to a Bangalore-based company, Jaico Automobiles (Azad Group). While engine parts and chasis are manufactured in Sweden, bodybuilding was done in the outsourcing unit.
However, there was a spate of complaints on defects in structural design, defective air-conditioning against the buses.
Following the complaints, the company decided to set up its own bus body building unit in the country. Volvo opted for Karnataka as it already has a strong infrastructure for bodybuilding units.
