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Volvo plans manufacturing unit in Karnataka

March 13, 2007 17:59 IST
Sweden-based bus manufacturer Volvo has opted for Bangalore for setting up its proposed bus body-building unit instead of Andhra Pradesh, which had offered the company sops for setting up the unit in Chittoor district.

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.

 

 

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