"The time has come for us to have our own finance company to fund Volvo vehicles as we have reached a critical mass of commercial vehicles, which includes trucks, buses and construction equipment. It will be a fully-owned subsidiary of Volvo and extend finance to Volvo customers," he said.
Talking to reporters here today to announce the completion of 10 years of Volvo's presence in India, Leblanc said the finance company will see an investment of at least $50 million. It is appropriate for the company to have its own finance company at a juncture when it is looking at growing the commercial vehicle market in the country. Its new joint venture with Eicher Motors, VE Commercial Vehicle Limited will help the company to increase its presence in the commercial vehicle market in the country, he said.
The company is looking at selling 100,000 vehicles in India by 2015 and capture 10-15 per cent of the total commercial vehicle market, Leblanc said. This will be achieved by both VECL and Volvo India together. Volvo India has sold 5,000 trucks and 2,000 buses in India since inception in 1998.