Swedish luxury car maker Volvo Cars has unveiled its fully electric SUV C40 Recharge in India, which will be launched in August, and deliveries will begin in September. The vehicle will be the company’s second electric offering in India after the fully-electric XC40 Recharge that was launched last year.
In 2018, Volvo Car India sold 2,600 units. Last year, it sold around 1,800 units in the domestic market. When asked if the company can cross the record level of sales this year, Jyoti Malhotra, Managing Director, Volvo Car India said, “We want to cross it. I am very confident from the demand side, but the supply side There are still hurdles.”
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Supply chain constraints mostly have to do with semiconductors, he said, adding that the average waiting period across all models is about three months. Malhotra said that EVs will play a key role in clocking record sales this year.
“The way we are doing business, we launched our first (electric) car last year with the XC40 Recharge, and now we are bringing the C40 Recharge. This will help us improve in the market, and we are confident That would help.” We add new customers to buy electric cars.” Malhotra added, “Within our own portfolio, we are now close to 27 per cent (of total sales coming from EVs).”
Earlier this year, in February, the company had said that it could go all-electric in India by 2025, much ahead of its global target of becoming an all-electric car company by 2030.
The company had said that it will continue to launch an electric vehicle every year in the country going forward. On the progress towards electrification, Malhotra said, “I think we are very much on the right track, and we are confident that we will get there very fast.”
On the C40 Recharge, he said it has been built from scratch as an EV, offering a range of 530 km on a single charge. It has a 78kWh battery, twin motors and a maximum power output of 408 hp. This vehicle can accelerate from 0-100 kmph in 4.8 seconds. It also has a fast charging feature that enables 10-80 percent charging in 27 minutes.
The C40 Recharge will be imported as a completely knocked down unit and assembled at the company’s Bengaluru plant as is being done with the XC40 Recharge. Volvo Cars’ current Indian portfolio includes the fully electric XC40 Recharge, SUVs XC90, XC60 and XC40 and sedan S90.