Indian Autos blog

To this day, I can still hear the gentle spool of the Volvo S60 that we drove quite a while back. Sadly, Volvo India is not doing that great in the Indian market. The three Germans have literally gobbled up the Indian Luxury market, leaving the Swedish company with very little customers.

A very important reason why the German are leading is because of their ‘Executive’ versions of the products. Executive means the same cars in terms of engines and other technical specifications but stripped off their luxury features. This is totally a volumes game where numbers matter the most.

Volvo, till now, did not have executive versions of any of their car. All of them were fully loaded and thus had a higher price tag which made them a bit uncompetitive. But all of that is about to change.

The company reportedly has plans to launch stripped-down variants of some of its models to boost sales.

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The Swedish company has come up with a special edition dubbed Volvo S80 Executive in Malaysia aimed at buyers wanting a premium car with a slightly exclusive and individual touch.

Mechanically nothing has changed. But this isn’t a special edition with gold badges and an ambitious marketing campaign.

Here are the list of changes -

1) Instrument panel top is covered in brown or black leather
2) Ventilated leather seats with massage option
3) Door panels fitted with leather
4) Analogue clock embedded into the instrument panel
5) Aluminium centre console
6) Extra thick carpets with different design
7) Provision to install refrigerator in the rear seat
Sensus infotainment system with five- or seven-inch display mounted up front

Now that the S60 and XC60 have shifted attention away from the S80, it will be a good decision for Volvo India to introduce special editions for both its older models (XC90 and S80). Luxury car manufacturers in India, in the name of special editions, sell vehicles fitted with accessories. The Volvo S80 Executive will shatter such perceptions.

Volvo’ Concept Universe will be the next generation S80′s source of inspiration and not materialize into an upmarket sedan as we reported before. Before moving on to the high-end of the luxury market, the company will work to consolidate the segments it competes in, its CEO Stefan Jacoby was recorded saying to AutoMotive News.

Stefan Jacoby, Volvo Cars CEO on a BMW 7 Series/Mercedes S-Class competitor -

It is not in our midterm or long-term strategy right now. That has been decided. It is too early to enter the S-class-size market. We are concentrating with our new products on our core segments.

Last year, immediately after Zhejiang Geely Holding Group purchased Volvo for $1.7 billion, Geely Chairman Li Shufu hinted to reporters that an upscale move was going to happen to take on German competitors Audi, Mercedes and BMW. After Jacoby’ statement from China, Volvo is understood to have backed off from that plan.

Volvo and Geely will not share showroom space, its CEO said at Auto Shanghai. Both companies will work together on battery-operated cars and leveraging Volvo’ research on safety to make Geely vehicles safer, but at the front-end, both companies will remain independent.

Volvo is reported to be developing a compact crossover that could be sold as the XC30 and positioned below the S60. Volvo India would love to get their hands on such a product as Audi and BMW are licking their lips with the Q3 and X1.

Indian Autos Blog is packing its bags and heading to India’s financial capital to cover the launch of new Volvo S80 variant. We will also be interacting with Volvo’s management and ask them all the right questions.

Posting might not be fluent, but we will try hard to keep the blog updated to our best ability.

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Swedish car major Volvo has taken the environmentally-friendly route by introducing a new 1.6-liter Turbodiesel in its ‘DRIVe’ range of vehicles.

Volvo has announced an all new Twin Turbo inline 5-cylinder diesel that not only makes 205bhp and 420Nm of twist but also returns 46.5 mpg (22kmpl) and a mere 164g/km of CO2 emissions! That makes it confirm to the Euro 5 standards. This engine displaces just 2.4 litres and will debut in the S80.