Volvo's low floor city buses to hit B'lore roads today  ( January '17,2006, FE)

Luxury bus maker Volvo India has launched its low floor city buses for Bangalore city. The first batch of intra-city buses, Volvo first foray, will hit the roads on Tuesday with the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) ordering for 25 buses.

Speaking at a press meet here on Monday, Hakan Karlsson, president and CEO of Volvo India said, ``Volvo city buses are an integral part of our business and we expect to sell about 500 such buses in 2006. Buses contribute about 25% of the companies growth per year.''Akash Passey, vice-president, said that final discussions are also on with Mumbai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad officials for introduction of inter-city buses.

Mr Passey said these intra-city buses, the Volvo 8700 low entry series, come out with the same assembly line from where Volvo trucks are built. The body is built at the Jaico Automobile Engineering Company near Bangalore.

These buses have 7-litre engine meeting Euro 3 standards and are the latest model among Volvo's buses. They are equipped with low floors and are fitted with electronically controlled climate system. They can carry up to 90 passengers. Unlike tourist buses, these buses have two entrances with wide doors and have a kneeling mechanism that allows commuters to walk into the bus.

Volvo's bus division contributes around 25% to the overall revenue of Volvo's operations in the country.