Capt.Popeye
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Investment of 16 + Billion...
Somebody gonna hurt real bad.. ..................like leyland , Volvo and all.....
Not too sure about that!
A Chinese company called Kinglong sold buses in India in competition with Volvo and Tata-Hispano. First of all they had to change the name for the Indian market to Cerita (because the potential buyers and passengers read the name as Dingdong and stuff like that). These buses were about 45% of the cost of the Volvos and even cheaper than the Tata-Hispanos , so they were popular with some public utility transports and State Transport undertakings. But the serviceability was extremely poor and spares were hard to come by, so they were dumped rather quickly. Now, AFAIK; just a few are remaining with BEST in Bombay (somebody from that city may be able to verify that) pending final disposal.
So the Volvos, Mercedes-Benz Actros, the MAN-Force, the TATRA-Vectra and of course the TATA and AL range of heavy trucks and prime movers have been able to maintain their market shares.
If the Kinglong experience is anything to go by, this venture will really have to 'earn its spurs'.