New Delhi: Swedish car major Volvo Car Corporation on 6 September forayed into the Indian market with two flagship products -- S80 sedan and sports utility vehicle XC90 SUV at starting prices of Rs 38 lakh and Rs 45 lakh, respectively.

The company has introduced two petrol (3.2 litre and 4.4 litre) and one diesel (2.5 litre) variant in both the models.

“India is a very exciting market and the luxury car segment is growing exponentially here. Now is the perfect moment for us to enter the market,” Volvo Car India Managing Director Paul de Voijs told reporters here.

He said the company would start operations in India with three dealerships in Chandigarh, Mumbai and Delhi and would scale it up to 9 by the end of 2008.

“The company would initially have three dealerships. We are in talks with 7-9 additional dealers across the country which might come up by the end of 2008,” he added.

The company will be importing the products as completely built units (CBUs) from its manufacturing plant in Sweden.

While the S80 sedan petrol variant will be priced at Rs 38 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), the diesel variant will be cheaper by Rs 1 lakh. Similarly, petrol version of SUV X90 will come for Rs 46 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) and the diesel version will cost Rs 45 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

The S80 sedan would be pitched against BMW’s 5-series (priced around Rs 37-42 lakh) while the SUV XC90 will compete with the likes of Audi Q7, BMW X5 and Mercedes M Class (in the Rs 60 lakh plus category).

Voijs, however, did not divulge the company’s sales targets in India during the current fiscal.

“We want to study the market in the first year and would then review our business model,” he said.

Volvo passenger car business is owned by US-based auto major Ford Motor Co.