All-new Volvo 9600 platform launched in India

The 15m seater tall boy designed coach has a passenger capacity of 55, whereas the sleeper coach has 40 berths. The seater and sleeper applications incorporate 15.1 cu.m and 9.2 cu.m of luggage space respectively. The 13.5m coach seats up to 47 passengers, while the sleeper variant hosts 36 berths. The corresponding luggage space for the seater and sleeper variants are 13.6 cu.m and 8.1 cu.m respectively.

Two sleeper coaches were launched in the presence of Vinod Aggarwal, MD & CEO, VE Commercial Vehicles, Akash Passey, President - Bus Division at VECV and Suresh Chettiar, VP and Business Head at Volvo Bus India, besides several other senior company officials.

Aggarwal told the media that the recent pandemic had affected the bus industry in a vry adverse manner. From 65,000 units per annum, the bus sales slipped to as low as 10,000 before climbing up 18,000 units last year. He said that in the first four months of this fiscal, the sales were around 5,000 units per month. Though inter- city luxury buses have a small share in the overall bus market in India, he expected the share of theses buses to be around 800 to 1000 units per annum. It is this segment that VECV is targeting with its brand new Volvo 9600 buses.

He said the Volvo 9600 takes the “next step in luxury, comfort, and safety -values that all of us associate with Volvo Buses.” He did not mention that investment that had gone into making this all-new 9600 platform but mentioned that the company invests around Rs 400 crore to Rs 500 crore every year for product development and other CV related work. 

Akash Passey, President, Bus Division, VECV, said, “The Volvo 9600 platform merges award winning bus design, technology and manufacturing processes with our successful ‘Make-In-India’ journey. As the bus industry recovers from a very tough period, Bus Operators continue to count on us to deliver solutions that address the aspirations of inter-city passengers for safe, luxurious, and globally contemporary coaches.

Like its predecessors, the coaches on the Volvo 9600 platform will be manufactured at the state-of-the-art Hosakote plant, that has a track record of producing fully built Volvo premium buses since 2008.

Standout features

At the heart of the Volvo 9600 platform is the tried, tested, powerful and fuel-efficient Volvo D8K(8-litre) engine, delivering a power of 350hp@2200 RPM and a peak torque of 1350 Nm@ 1200-1600 RPM. The fuel-efficient engine along with its purpose-developed drivetrain is designed to minimize TCO and maximize uptime for bus operators. The chassis includes the I-Shift automated manual gearbox, electronic braking system (EBS) Hill start aid and Electronic Stability Program(ESP) systems.

The 9600 platform is extremely driver friendly. It has an all-new ergonomically designed curved dashboard with controls for easy accessibility. Further, air-suspended seats with adjustable headrest ensure a fatigue-free experience for the driver.