Reference Auto

So, Swedish luxury carmaker Volvo, which till date is yet to get a firm foothold in the country’s car market, has rolled out its crossover, the Volvo V40 Cross Country, for a price of Rs 28.5 lakh in an attempt to eat into the share of luxury car majors, especially Audi and BMW.

Volvo, which hopes to sell 1,200 cars this year, has priced its crossover hatchback at almost similar to BMW’s X1, which carries a price tag from Rs 27.5 lakh to Rs 32 lakh. But BMW comes with a price advantage and this could be a worry for Volvo, which is attempting to get a grip in India’s lucrative auto market.

The Volvo V40 Cross Country is propelled by a 2 litre, 5 cylinder diesel engine. The company claims the car can give a mileage of over 16 km per litre, which sounds good for a luxury hatch.

Volvo is a brand, which is known for the safety features it offers on its cars and an awareness campaign on this front could see many buyers flocking for the V40.

The Volvo V40 has a number of airbags and comes with City Safety, where a car would brake automatically at slow speeds if it foresees a possible collision with another car. This is mind blowing technology and could give the V40 an edge over its competitors.

There’s also the self-parking feature, which is only present in the Volkswagen Passat as of now. Other features in the V40 are keyless entry and start, a sunroof along with a reversing camera. These are usually not offered as standard by competitor car companies.

So far as the interiors go, the Volvo V40 rids itself of the old-fashioned dashboard and the inside (the dashboard included) has a futuristic look.

The driver interface is easy to use. Also, choice of colour from beige, copper and shades of brown gives the V40’s looks a fillip.

The V40’s seats are pretty comfortable and the space inside seems great. The rear legroom is commendable. However, the back head and shoulder room could have been better.

An optimistic Volvo Auto India managing director Tomas Ernberg said, “The new Volvo car will bring in new impetus to our growth plan in the country. So far, we have bookings for 70 cars and our target is to sell about 120 cars of the new V40 this year.”

He also revealed that last year, the company sold 800 cars in total, and this year, Volvo hopes to raise the figure to 1,200 cars.

The MD said two launches are in the pipeline, which include fresh models of sedan S60 and SUV XC60. Volvo hopes to make a mark in India quickly and this will hinge on the sales of these three cars.

Volvo Auto India, which sells four models, XC90, XC60 (SUV), S80 and S60 (sedan) in the country, hopes to raise sales to a whopping 20,000 cars by 2020.

The Volvo V40 Cross Country, with its moderate pricing and great (and unique) safety and other features along with looks, could eat into the share of other luxury brands in the medium term provided an awareness strategy is charted by the car maker.