Value chain
Alm said in Volvo Group’s overall market forecast for CY 2026 that demand for heavy-duty trucks in North America could be lower. But the Swedish automotive group expects demand for medium and heavy trucks in India to rise, boosted by increased economic activity in the country.
Alm also said that India as a location is already integrated into the global manufacturing system and will continue to play an important role in Volvo’s value chain, which sources critical components such as engines from its Pithampur (Madhya Pradesh) hub.
“Today we already source parts from India for our trucks worldwide. The Volvo Group produces engines in Pithampur, Indore,” said Alm. “This means that India is a production location that is integrated into our global production system and will remain important to the regional value chain for the Volvo Group.”
Production facility
Earlier this month, VE Commercial Vehicles, a joint venture between Eicher Motors and Volvo Group, announced an investment of ₹544 crore to set up a 12-speed automatic manual transmission (AMT) manufacturing facility near Ujjain. The investment in AMT production will serve the needs of Eicher heavy-duty truck customers in India, the Volvo Group in India and select markets in the Asia Pacific region. India is already the global production center for the Volvo Group’s 5 and 8 liter engines (MDEP). Alm declined to share the total investment the group has made in the country to date.
Further obligations
“India will remain an important part of our global supply chain, and this will require more investment in the future,” he said.
In terms of zero-emission vehicles, Alm said Volvo Trucks has produced eight electric truck models and sold more than 5,500 electric trucks to 50 countries around the world. “Now India is also starting to adopt electric trucks, so we are seeing huge movements in that area. We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to expand production in Bengaluru. We are very bullish on India,” Alm said.
However, Alm said the physical infrastructure needed to support electrification, especially charging facilities, is not available to many customers in many countries.
“If you can’t charge an electric truck, driving it is like driving a diesel truck without available gas stations – it becomes difficult. So charging infrastructure is vital. We need to support all of this – electricity suppliers, energy companies and fuel companies – to provide charging infrastructure to customers and guarantee the availability of electricity and network capacity,” said Alm.
He said the global auto industry is in “the transformation phase,” and this (electrification) is the right path (towards decarbonization). However, collaboration with stakeholders is important to make it a success.
Volvo Group, he said, “is fully focused and has made investments to be at the forefront.” At the same time, the company is also exploring other technologies, such as LNG, which it is developing in India and other markets around the world to reduce emissions and fuel consumption in the meantime.
#Volvo #betting #high #demand #trucks #India #quiet