India R&D team crucial for our fossil-free, services-related goals: Volvo CTO

The Bengaluru-based team will also help in doubling the share of services and solutions revenue by the end of the decade, said Lars Stenqvist, group CTO of Volvo.

Stenqvist, who is also executive vice president of truck technology at the group, said the aim is to double its revenue share from software and solutions to 50% by 2030.

The company also plans to target a steady stream of revenue by assisting in the decarbonisation goals of its customers, battery management, charging and route planning in electric vehicles, he added.

“Bengaluru is becoming an important part of the system that is working intertwined with other R&D centres globally. It is not a service centre. We are giving more responsibility to the centre for complete delivery for different parts of solutions that we’re using such as testing, quality control and cost,” Stenqvist told ET.

“We are vesting more than ever into technology development across the globe (for the fossil-free goal). Many technologies in parallel will be needed — battery, electric vehicles, fuel-cell electric vehicles, combustion engines running renewable fuels – which are more data-driven and software-driven development,” he added.

The company will increase its headcount by 25% to hit 2,000 employees by the end of the current calendar year at its Bengaluru centre, its largest outside of Sweden.

Its other R&D centres are in Australia, France and Brazil. The automaker’s overarching theme in India R&D operations and expansion is embedded software.

ET Online

Lars Stenqvist (Image source: www.volvogroup.com)

“Software is growing in importance as the competitiveness of our vehicles going forward will be defined by it. So, we have clearly increased our focus on data analytics, apart from mechatronics and electro-mobility in the centre,” Stenqvist said.

The company has over one million connected vehicles globally. It plans to use data and connectivity for efficient performance of components as well as to pivot to safety features to avoid accidents.

India manufacturing


Volvo said its Pithampur plant is the only global centre producing five- and eight-litre engines that are used in trucks, buses and construction equipment, for both India and the global market.

The company also said the e-commerce boom and the importance of logistics efficiency will drive sales of its commercial vehicles through its joint venture with Eicher Motors.

“We are starting now to deliver proof points when it comes to the e-commerce business as we have customers that are clocking 300,000 kilometres per year now on the Volvo trucks in India. We are making big steps when it comes to logistical efficiency in India,” he added.

On chip shortage, Stenqvist said the company was collaborating with tier 1 to tier 4 suppliers and was also in direct talks with semiconductor manufacturers to ensure continuous supply. “It’s rather hard to give a specific date on when these will be completely solved.”