Scania launches engines for industrial, marine and power generation in India

Volkswagen's commercial vehicle arm Scania today announced its entry into the engine segment in India.

The company, which today launched its power generation engines for prime power, at the Industrial Trade Fair in Coimbatore, said bookings for engines havd started.

Anders Grundströmer, managing director Scania Commercial Vehicle India and senior vice president, Scania Group, said, ''Launching engines in India is anatural extension of our product portfolio as we want to support our customers in all respects. We see huge potential for engines in the country across various sectors.'' ''Our engines are compact and powerful, with high reliability and uptimeleading to low operating cost'', he added.

Scania is one of the world's leading manufacturers of trucks and buses as well as industrial and marine engines, with an excellent reputation and highly loyal customers. Scania builds more than 80,000 engines annually, making it one of the most experienced engine manufacturers in the industry. Scania engines are used to power trucks, buses, industrial and marine operation, as well as in the power generation sector. Scania offers a wide range of industrial engines ranging from the emission standard Stage II/Tier 2 to the present Stage IIIB and Tier 4i.

While Scania, which has launched the power generation engine range in India, says it will also offer Marine engines and Industrial engines through its network which hs yet to be established.

The power generation engines are equipped with a Scania-developed 'engine management system', EMS, in order to ensure the control of all aspects related to engine performance. The injection system is based on electronically-controlled unit injectors that give low exhaust emissions with good fuel economy and a high torque. The engine can be fitted with accessories such as air cleaners, radiators and PTOs in order to suit a variety of installations.

Scania is investing about Rs2,500 crore in an industrial facility in Bengaluru. Its Scania Regional Product Centre, will also be the centre of the company's commercial operations in the country.

Scania saysit hopes to sell about 2,000 trucks, 1,000 coaches per year in the Indian market within the next five years.

The facility is being constructed in an industrial area 40 km east of Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka state in southern India. Production is expected to start in mid 2013. It is estimated that almost 800 people will be employed at the facility in the longer term.

The industrial operations will consist of final assembly of trucks with bodywork and building of complete coaches with bodywork. The head office of Scania's Indian company, complete with a service workshop and a central parts warehouse, will be housed at the same site.

Scania has been represented in the Indian market since 2007, through a partnership with Larsen & Toubro (L&T).

the Swedish commercial; vehicle maker said L&T successfully established Scania's trucks and services and has developed a close partnership with customers in the mining industry.

L&T currently operates about 10 Scania service workshops at various mining sites in the country and continues to be a trusted partner for off road including mining trucks.

In 2011, Scania established Scania Commercial Vehicles India and recently launched a new range of on-road haulage truck models specially adapted for the Indian market - the R 500 6x4, the G 460 6x4 and the P 410 6x2. The P 410 8x4 mining tipper was launched in December 2012.

Earlier  this year Scania launched a new coach range, purpose-designed for luxury intercity or charter travels, especially fro the Indian market.

Scania's major shareholder is German automotive group Volkswagen AG, with a 70.94% voting stake, which it acquired by first buying Volvo's stake in 2000. After Vovlvo's latter's aborted takeover attempt, Volkswagen raised its staek to 36.4 per cent in the first quarter 2007, followed by acquiring the rest from Investor AB in March 2008.

German truck manufacturer MAN SE holds a 17.37 per cent voting stake in Scania. Volkswagen owns a 75.03 per cent  stake in Man.