Commercial vehicle maker Eicher Motors said its joint venture with Volvo Group will start rolling out low floor buses for urban transportation by the second half of 2010.

Mr Siddhartha Lal MD of Eicher Motors on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit said that “By the second half of 2010, we will have a range of buses in the semi low floor, 650 milli metre height category which will conform to the JNNURM program.”

The company is currently in discussion with various State Governments and city authorities to provide these buses for public transportation.

Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission the Government has sanctioned purchase of buses for various missions.

When asked how many buses the company will initially roll out, Mr Lal said that “Starting with, we are going to have 100 buses a month for certain cities and going up to much more than that in the coming years. So there is huge ramp up that we expect.’’ He added that the buses will be coming out from VE Commercial Vehicles, the joint venture with Volvo and will be sold under Eicher brand.

(Sourced from Business Line)