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Volvo Eyes Malaysian Bus Market
富豪觊觎大马巴士市场
During a recent breakfast meeting with Volvo Buses President Håkan Agnevall, he revealed that Malaysia was a key and im- portant market for the company as Volvo had good solutions to address some key issues that were faced by the local bus transport in- dustry, including public transport.
“Volvo is eyeing the long haul coach and city bus market segments in Malaysia, and is looking forward to working closely with the government and private bus operators. To strengthen our presence and commitment, we have relocated our Volvo Bus Asia Pacific HQ to Singapore. We have signed an agreement with Truckquip Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Tan Chong Motor Holdings Bhd, which will be responsible for our chassis assembly starting from August this year. In addition, we have developed special- ised bus training programmes for dealers and are working closely with local body builders.”
According to Agnevall, Volvo was a world leader in Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) since it developed its first system in the 1970s. BRT was a flex- ible and cost-efficient solution for public transportation, he said, being 10 times more cost effective than rail transport. Currently, Volvo BRT buses were operating in cities such as Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, India, South Africa and Sweden.
“We are seeing a rapid transition towards the electrification of public transport. Volvo Buses is playing a leading role here and we have sold more than 3,000 hybrid and full electric buses. For us, electrified buses and BRT are a winning combination as it is not only environmentally friendly, but has increased efficiency for urban transportation with higher average speeds and shorter displacement times.”
Within the framework of its City Mobility programme, Agnevall contin- ued, Volvo Buses was working directly with cities to solve their respective public transport challenges. The company offered a complete solution comprising electric buses, a charging infrastructure and a multitude of aftermarket services for optimised operation.
“We have entered into several such partnerships with cities around the world: Gothenburg, Hamburg, Luxemburg, Montreal and Stockholm. In several of these cities, our electric hybrid buses will enter service
this year and next year. As for Malaysia, we are putting our
focus mainly on the long haul coach and city bus segment, and will be looking to promote BRT and electric mobility. ”
What distinguished the Volvo’s brand of buses from the others were fuel efficiency, safety, driver training pro- gramme, after-sales service, and innovations such as BRT.
“Volvo buses have been known for their ride comfort and
fuel economy. However, fuel efficiency is also a question
of having well-trained drivers and a well-maintained vehicle.
To help the drivers familiarise with our bus features and opti-
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Volvo Buses President Håkan Agnevall
mise the drive and performance, we offer our custom- ers Volvo Bus Driver Training. This programme allows bus and coach drivers to understand how their driving behaviour impacts fuel consumption, passenger com- fort, vehicle lifetime and many other aspects of a profit- able and successful operation.”
Safety was another important aspect of Volvo bus, stressed Agnevall, and all Volvo buses were equipped with Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) as a stan- dard feature, a modern active safety system that served to prevent the risk of tipping over or skidding on curves.