VE Commercial Vehicles to set up new Rs 400 crore plant in Bhopal

With the Indian commercial vehicle industry currently firing on all cylinders and recording 41 percent YoY growth and the key medium and heavy commercial vehicle (M&HCV) segment which comprises both trucks and buses notching 55 percent growth, CV manufacturers are looking to accelerate growth.

VE Commercial Vehicles, a subsidiary of Eicher Motors, has announced plans to set up a new, greenfield production facility at Bhopal with an investment of Rs 400 crore. The Madhya Pradesh government has allotted land for  the  new plant and work to set up this plant is expected to start soon. The all-new plant is slated to stream in the next 18 months with an initial capacity of 40,000 trucks, in addition to the capacity of 90,000 trucks at Pithampur, near Indore. The Pithampur plant also has engine production capacity of 34,000 units, scalable to 100,000 units.

Today’s announcement commemorates the completion of 10 successful years of partnership between the Volvo Group and Eicher Motors. VECV says it has recorded average growth of over 18 percent in the past 10 years with a turnover of Rs 10,200 crore in 2017‐18. 

In the ongoing fiscal (April to August 2018 period), VECV has sold a total of 24,154 units (+38.46%) and has a CV market share of 6.17 percent. In FY2018, the company had sold a total of 55,872 units (+13.09%). The company also exported 9,001 trucks in FY2018 (+12%); between April to August 2018, VECV has shipped 3,838 units (+32%).

A full-range CV player
To celebrate the first decade of the joint venture in India, the entire Board of Directors of AB Volvo is present. Speaking on the occasion, Martin Lundstedt, president and CEO, Volvo Group, said, “It is a  proud moment for us as we celebrate an extremely successful partnership with Eicher Motors. Together we have created many industry‐leading benchmarks to drive modernisation in  the last 10 years. India is a home base for Volvo Group, with a presence of over two decades across our various business lines and we reiterate our strong commitment to the future of the country and VE Commercial Vehicles.” 

Also commenting on the occasion, Siddhartha Lal, MD and CEO, Eicher Motors, said, “The partnership with Volvo has been extremely fruitful for VECV that is reflected in its strong performance in the last decade. VECV is today a full range player in 4- to 55-ton GVW market. Not only has VECV benefited from this partnership, but at the same time we have been able to contribute to the cost‐reduction opportunities for  the  Volvo  Group  through  supply  of  cost‐effective  engines  from  India.  As we  move  into  the  next decade, we reiterate our strong commitment to this partnership.”

Håkan  Karlsson,  president, Volvo Group Trucks Asia & JVs and chairman, VECV added, “With the announcement of setting up of a new plant at an investment of Rs 400 crore, we have full confidence in the growth potential in the Indian market and with technologically superior products, VECV is in an advantageous position to fully leverage the opportunities in the market. The visit by the Board of directors of AB Volvo reflects the strong commitment of Volvo Group to this partnership and we are looking forward to further develop the partnership to lead the rapid transformation in the industry.”

VECV is an exclusive manufacturing hub for the medium‐duty Euro 6 engines for the Volvo Group. These  engines, manufactured at the state‐of‐the‐art manufacturing facility in Pithampur, are being exported to Europe and Asia to Volvo Group plants.