The Indian subsidiary of the Swedish Volvo Cars company has suddenly stepped up its activity in India. The company plans to increase its presence in the Indian luxury car market and thereby increase its market share in the Indian car market.

Volvo now has set its eyes on rich cities like Ahmedabad, and Bangalore for its venture in India. Currently, Volvo has a dealership presence in seven cities across India, but the number will soon increase to 12 dealerships by early 2010.

The company now plans to gear up its product portfolio by introducing new models. It has already queued up the luxurious XC60 for the country. It is already marketing three cars – the Volvo C70 convertible, Volvo S80 and the sporty Volvo XC90 SUV. All of these cars come with a price tag of over Rs 30 lakh.

The company is keen on creating a consumer base in the country. As such, all attempts will be made to increase visibility of their cars in the country. Right now, the most visible luxury cars are the BMW and Mercedes. Volvo is far behind in terms of visibility and sales figures. However, it is upbeat about the growing Indian economy and wants to increase its market share in India.

The luxury car market has been largely insulated by the economic slowdown and has sold nearly 8,000 units in the last fiscal year. In the year 2009, the numbers are likely to go up to 10,000 to 12,000 units.

Even though the total market size for luxury car market is small compared to China, luxury car manufacturers are making all attempts to win more customers. Even though, Volvo entered India in 2007, it has been a low key player so far.

Volvo cars offer a great value for money in the luxury car segment. They offer satellite navigation system covering 200 cities across India. All its models in India have the latest safety technologies like the collision detection and pedestrian safety systems.

Volvo cars also offer adaptive cruise control which helps prevent collision by automatically slowing down the car speed.