Sweden’s Volvo to Roll Out Low-Cost Truck for Asia

AB Volvo and its Japanese subsidiary, UD Trucks Corp., plan to introduce a low-priced large commercial truck for Asian markets by year-end, according to The Nikkei, which cites no sources.

The Tokyo-based newspaper offers no details about the truck but predicts it will be priced at about 5 million yen ($49,000).

The model will be assembled on new production lines set up at Volvo plants in India and Thailand and at a plant in China operated by UD Trucks and Dongfeng Motor Corp., The Nikkei says. It adds that output in China and India will be mainly for local markets, but Thailand will supply markets throughout southeast Asia and Africa.

Volvo expects the new truck to help it boost Asia Pacific sales revenue 50% from 2012 to 103.9 billion kronor ($15.6 billion) by 2015, according to the newspaper.