Volvo to invest Rs 3800 Cr in India

Bangalore, Nov 15 (UNI)

Global bus and truck maker Volvo will invest Rs 3800 crore in the coming years in India to build its facilities to emerge among the top two position from the present third position, Volvo Group President and Chief Executive Officer Olof Persson said today.

Addressing a press conference here, he said that while Rs 2000 crore would be invested in building Volvo facilities including Manufacturing, Research and Development and other facilities, Rs 1800 Crore will be invested in the Joint Venture with Heavy Duty Truck Manufacturer Eicher Motors.

Mr Persson said that India was an important market for Volvo Group and in the expansion proposed the manufacturing facility near Bangalore will contribute to European market also. 'Over the next few years 30 per cent of the products will be exported from India to other countries,' he added.

Replying to a question, he said that Volvo is giving utmost importance to localisation of a product it manufactures and it helps the company in many ways.

Mr Persson said that the company has 60 per cent market share in heavy trucks segment and it had also made its mark in India in Bus sector and will continue to invest in India in manufacturing sector.

He said that the company would soon release a new Volvo truck to the India, Asia, South Asia and South East Asia markets.

'For this purpose the production capacity would be increased in the coming days at plants in Bangalore, Thailand and China,' he added.

--UNI

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Volvo plans to sell 'crash-proof' cars which 'drive themselves' by 2020

Wellington, Dec 5 (ANI)

Embattled Swedish firm Volvo is now aiming to manufacture cars that can drive themselves and avoid crashes.

The company discussed its plans during a recent autonomous-driving event at a track in Hallered, Sweden.

"Our vision is that no one is killed or injured in a new Volvo by 2020," Volvo's head of government affairs Anders Eugensson said.

According to Stuff.co.nz, the firm is preparing to launch in 2014 its first batch of autonomous vehicles capable of driving up to 50kmh, with the technology expected to be used initially in heavy traffic.

"We are convinced this is the future and we want to get there first," the report quoted Marcus Rothoff, head of developing driver assistance technology at Volvo, as saying.

According to the report, Volvo is one of several companies investing large sums to develop the autonomous vehicles, despite the complex legal problems that need to be overcome.

The Daily Mail said the biggest hurdle to introducing autonomous cars was not the technology, which was largely developed, but public acceptance and issues of who would be liable if a crash-proof car actually did crash, the driver or the manufacturer.

--ANI

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Volvo Testing KERS Kinetic Energy Recovery Flywheels for Its Lineup

May 26, 2011 at 4:13pm by Alexander Stoklosa

Volvo seems an unlikely carmaker to explore the use of kinetic-energy recovery flywheels in its pedestrian automobiles, but the traditionally safety-oriented company is indeed working to bring the Formula 1 tech to its cars. Volvo joins Porsche and its GT3 R hybrid racer in the utilization of a kinetic-energy recovery system (KERS) that uses the energy of a flywheel spun to high speed by recovered braking energy to aid a car’s engine during acceleration.

In Volvo’s system, the flywheel is mechanically coupled and decoupled from the rear axle using a continuously variable transmission. The CVT engages the flywheel as the car slows, spinning it to up to 60,000 rpm, then decouples the flywheel as the car comes to a halt, finally re-coupling the spinning flywheel to the rear wheels when the car accelerates from a stop. Volvo’s mechanical, motorless rear-axle-mounted setup is unique from Porsche’s approach to KERS, which relies on motor-generators to spin up the flywheel, recover its energy, and transfer that energy back to the car’s forward motion. (Read more about the system in the 911 GT3 R hybrid here.) Volvo claims that the flywheel’s accelerative boost not only aids fuel economy, but performance as well, with up to 80 additional horsepower available when the flywheel and engine join forces.

Because the flywheel doesn’t spin forever—the laws of physics cannot be beat, so it loses rotational inertia over time—the KERS system is most effective in stop-and-go driving, where each stop can spin the flywheel, which can then be used to get the car going again for a brief period of time. Volvo is aware of the situational limits of the KERS system, so it has worked to make the flywheel as efficient as possible. This means that the flywheel is made of carbon fiber, making it lighter—the 7.84-inch diameter flywheel weighs just 13 pounds—and increasing its rotational capacity. The flywheel spins in a vacuum to minimize friction losses. Volvo plans to begin testing its KERS setup in its cars in the second half of 2011, and is confident it can reduce fuel consumption by up to 20% while giving a four-cylinder engine the punch of a six. We just hope an F1-style, driver-operable “boost button” makes the cut, because a Volvo with a go-faster button would make us giddy at the incongruity of it all.

Tags: hybrid, Volvo |

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2012 Volvo S60 and XC60 R-Design Official Photos and Info – Auto Shows

April 22, 2011 at 5:52pm by Alexander Stoklosa

These sportier Volvos each have 325 reasons to go rather than stop.

For Swedish performance aficionados who remember the Volvo R sedans and wagons from the ’90s and early 2000s, Volvo’s recent R-Design packages left much to be desired. Rather than increase power, those add-ons were being limited to stiffer suspension bits, flashy wheels, and sportier interior and exterior trim. Somewhere a pale yellow 850R wagon may be cracking a smile, though, as Volvo’s upcoming 2012 S60 R-Design and XC60 R-Design mark the return of power upgrades to the Volvo fold.

Keep Reading: 2012 Volvo S60 and XC60 R-Design Official Photos and Info – Auto Shows

Tags: 2011 New York auto show, auto shows, luxury, New York Auto Show, Scandinavian, sedan, SUV, turbocharged, Volvo, Volvo R-Design, Volvo S60, Volvo S60 R-Design, Volvo XC60, Volvo XC60 R-Design |

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2012 Volvo S60 and XC60 R-Design Official Photos and Info – Auto Shows

April 22, 2011 at 5:52pm by Alexander Stoklosa

These sportier Volvos each have 325 reasons to go rather than stop.

For Swedish performance aficionados who remember the Volvo R sedans and wagons from the ’90s and early 2000s, Volvo’s recent R-Design packages left much to be desired. Rather than increase power, those add-ons were being limited to stiffer suspension bits, flashy wheels, and sportier interior and exterior trim. Somewhere a pale yellow 850R wagon may be cracking a smile, though, as Volvo’s upcoming 2012 S60 R-Design and XC60 R-Design mark the return of power upgrades to the Volvo fold.

Keep Reading: 2012 Volvo S60 and XC60 R-Design Official Photos and Info – Auto Shows

Tags: 2011 New York auto show, auto shows, luxury, New York Auto Show, Scandinavian, sedan, SUV, turbocharged, Volvo, Volvo R-Design, Volvo S60, Volvo S60 R-Design, Volvo XC60, Volvo XC60 R-Design |

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