Scania's bus manufacturing facility to be inaugurated tomorrow

Scania Commercial Vehicles India today said its first bus manufacturing facility in the country is set to be inaugurated tomorrow.

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari will officially inaugurate the plant at Narasapura near here on March 31, 2015, the company said in a release.

It said the bus manufacturing plant's current capacity is about 1,000 units per year and will employ 300 people in its first year.

Stating that in October 2013, the company inaugurated its truck manufacturing facility in Narasapura, Scania said it has collectively invested around ₹300 crore in their truck and bus manufacturing facility.

The current yearly capacity of the manufacturing plant is 2,500 trucks and 1,000 buses, it said.

The bus plant will also serve as an export hub for regions such as Asia, Middle East and Africa, the release said adding that over the next five years, Scania aims to double its production capacity by 2,500 units of buses and 5,000 units of trucks and recruit about 800 employees by the end of 2017.

'The goal is to draw on local talent and competence and combine it with global experience - making all our facilities part of our global network and in turn creating tremendous value across our global value chain,' Scania C V President and CEO Martin Lundstedt said.

'We see Naraspura as an important addition to our global operations and are committed to making it a success,' he
added.

Observing that Scania's promise of delivering sustainable transport solutions in the country takes a major step forward
with the bus manufacturing plant, the company said the plant will house a bio-gas production unit and will locally assemble ethanol buses.

The company will also broaden the scope for manufacturing more products powered by alternative fuels, which will catalyse sustainable development in India to a whole new level, it added.