Swedish luxury bus maker Volvo on Tuesday said it will export buses manufactured in India to Europe. The company’s plan is part of its new strategy of leveraging manufacturing presence in Asia.

The company’s new announced Asia leverage strategy aims to utilize its manufacturing presence in India and China to cater demands from global markets.

Commenting on the latest announcement, Håkan Agnevall, President, Volvo Buses said, “At Volvo Buses, we are constantly looking at providing maximum value and high quality to our customers across all markets. This was a driving thought in starting the Asia Leverage programme; to utilize the efficient engineering and manufacturing expertise in India to meet the demands of other global markets.”

Further he said, “The commencement of exports to Europe from India is a proof point of these capabilities. We are confident that going forward we will leverage the skills and strengths in India to meet the European market requirements.”

With the new export, Volvo is planning to target the inter-city transport segment in various European cities where its has minimal presence.

“The inter-city transport market in Europe is considered to be around 5,000 buses. With the buses from India arriving, we believe we can gain market share in the segment there. We already had couple of interactions with prospective customers,” added Mr. Agnevall.

The company also said it has made an additional investment of Rs. 400 crore since 2011 to strengthen various manufacturing procedures. Presently, Volvo's manufacturing facility in Hoskote has a production capacity of 1,500 buses.

The company already exports buses made in its facility in Hoskote near Bengaluru to countries like Sri Lanka, Maldives and Africa.

The buses exported will be of Euro 6, the latest emission standards followed in Europe. According to sources, the first batch will be shipped by next week. However, the company official did not disclose the number of buses that would be exported in the first batch.