Volvo Auto India, the domestic subsidiary of the Swedish automotive giant, has opened a new outlet in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. This showroom, registered under the name Artemis Cars, is located in Luxury Atrium, Express Avenue Mall and covers more than 3500 sq. ft. of space. It has been created along the lines of the car maker’s ‘designed around you’ theme, wherein the whole Volvo vehicle is centred on the driver and the passengers.
On this occasion, Thomas Ernberg, Managing Director, Volvo Auto India, commented, “With the opening of this brand-new showroom in Chennai, Volvo Auto India has boosted the retail offering for its valued customers here. We have received tremendously encouraging customer response in India and this showroom only adds to our promise of taking a step further in serving customers better.”
This new ‘designed around you’ outlet will extend the luxury experience that Volvo models are known for to the showroom itself. Talking about this, R. B. Sivaganesh, Executive Director, Artemis Cars, stated, “We are fortunate to be associated with Volvo Auto India in this venture. Together our endeavour will be to provide customers with a global Volvo experience.”
In the Indian automotive market, Volvo’s product portfolio consists of luxury cars like XC90, XC60, S80 and S60. The S60, S80 and XC60 models of the Swedish car maker are priced at Rs. 23.99 lacs, 31.99 lacs and 33.99 lacs, respectively. All three cars share the 2.0 L, 5 cylinder, turbo diesel engine that can produce maximum power of 163 hp and peak torque of 400 Nm. The prices of all three models have been raised recently by Rs. 79,000 in India recently due to the 2 per cent increase in taxes levied by the central government in the 2012 Union Budget.
Despite only decent sales in the passenger vehicle segment, Volvo has done extremely well in the bus segment of the Indian auto market ever since it ventured into the industry over a decade ago. Volvo buses have become the benchmark of luxury commercial passenger travel in the country and the company would be hoping that it is able to replicate the success in its car division as well by expanding its network.
