VE Commercial Vehicles, a joint venture of Volvo Group and Eicher Motors, is planning to invest a sum of Rs. 1000 crore by the year 2013 to improve goodwill of the brand in India. Capacity of engine production is likely to be expanded along with the proposed launch of new products and improvement of R&D in the company.
While addressing reporters, Managing Director of VECV, Siddhartha Lal said, “ We have set a capex of Rs 1,000 crore for 2012 and 2013. Our investment plans are on track and there is no downturn effect on it.”
The investment is scheduled to be utilised in different sectors, which will include maximising engine production capabilities and allotting more infrastructure in the R&D department. Other areas of consideration are development of new products and offering firmer after sales services to customers covering a wider network.
There are over 3500 permanent employees working for VECV across its different manufacturing units in India. The current capacity of the firm is an average 60,000 units per year. Based on the highly reputed Volvo technology, 100,000 engines will be manufactured from the plant if the plans of the joint venture are materialised. The company is already working on its strategy to roll out new products. Lal commented on this subject, “We have launched a 14 tonne truck in this fiscal. The next new product will come by the end of 2013 and in between we will have refreshes and variants of our existing products.”
Volvo Group and Eicher Motors are equal partners in VECV. The joint venture is responsible for the manufacture and distribution of buses and trucks of the brand name Eicher. In addition, distribution and sales of Volvo trucks in India are also managed the collaboration.
The manufacturing plant in question will be accredited by the end of June 2013, confirmed Managing Director of VECV Siddhartha Lal.
