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Volvo has just announced the launch of low cost variants of the S60, S80 and XC60 in India. The Chinese owned automaker has plonked in a new D3 engine which is a 2.0-litre unit and produces 163 BHP of power and 400 Nm of torque. These engines are quite frugal and return a mileage of 18.5 km/l on the Volvo S60, 17.8 km/l on the Volvo S80 and 14.7 km/l on the Volvo XC60. Known as the D3 variant, this will be the base model version of all the three Volvo cars and comes with leather upholstery, bi-xenon cornering lights, laser assisted automatic braking, traction control and emergency brake assist. as standard. Volvo has withdrawn the 2-year service pack on these models.
Volvo has priced the Price of the Volvo S60 D3 is Rs. 23.2 lakhs, the Volvo S80 D3 is Rs 31.2 lakhs while the Volvo XC60 D3 is priced at Rs. 33.2 lakhs (all priced are ex-showroom, Delhi). These prices are introductory in nature and will be hiked by Rs. 70,000/- from March 2012. The Volvo cars will also be available in D5 variant (for the S60, S80 and XC60) which uses a 2.4-litre diesel engine to produce 205 BHP of power. The S60 is also available with a T6 variant which is powered by a 3.0-litre petrol engine producing 306 BHP of power.
With these new variant, Volvo is betting big on the Indian market and aims to capture 15% of the luxury car segment in India by 2012. This translates to a sale of 20,000 units per annum from the Swedish car maker. In 2012, Volvo aims to sell 800 cars, which could be possible with these lower cost offerings. Volvo wants to be in the top three and is looking at displacing the German trio, which has dominated the luxury car segment ever since. Even if Volvo does not manage to displace the Germans, Lexus and Jaguar certainly will! Volvo is still using the CBU route and till they don’t go CKD, they will either be compromising their margins or won’t be able to price their vehicles as competitively. The German trio are already high on CKD operations and have significant revenues to invest in promotional activities to woo buyers.
