All four products planned under India 2.0 are in the market. What’s next for Skoda and Volkswagen?
The group has seen exceptional growth in the first six months of this year. We have on the retail front grown almost 200%, predominantly driven by our India 2.0 products, but apart from that, our luxury products Audi, Porsche and Lamborghini are doing extremely well. We are also busy ramping up production because India 2.0 cars were launched back-to-back over the last 14-16 months. As part of the India 2.0 strategy, we will also engineer and produce products here not only for India but for the global markets. So, we have started launching cars for the export market. We continue focusing on our new product introductions in India and abroad, and, at the same time, we are seeing great demand for our premium and luxury car products. We are on track with the aspirations we set out to achieve under India 2.0.
The group had said it aspires to get a 5% market share in India. Where are you on that path? What will your growth drivers be? Skoda is leading the numbers. Will that continue?
It is a good sign that we are entering the market with new products when the market is also growing. The full product portfolio was not in the market from the beginning of the year. Last year, we launched two SUVs and end of January-February, we launched Škoda Slavia, followed by the Virtus just two months ago. We are gaining market share. We’ve been depending on supply and demand matching, and have reached up to a 3%-plus share of the market. Our stated aspiration in the next two years to achieve 5% will still remain on track, not only with India 2.0 cars but also with our premium and luxury products. A substantial part of our portfolio is cars starting at ₹10 lakh, going up to ₹4 crore- ₹5 crore. We have a product portfolio through fully built-up (FBU) or through parts and components manufacturing at Aurangabad. The complete portfolio will help us achieve our aspirations and look beyond. In our strategy, Škoda has been the frontrunner.
Because of the timing in the market, you’ll see more traction for Škoda cars. Moreover, both our brands are positioned distinctively in the marketplace. To have distinctive products, there are also very distinctive parts and components which go into these cars. The parts availability that we see for Škoda is a little better than Volkswagen. I do see some challenges with parts supply, specific parts supply. So, this can affect the availability of specific brands.
Is Indian customers’ preference for more premium products benefiting your group, considering that your brands are positioned in the premium and luxury segments?
The Volkswagen Group’s strength globally is its very wide product portfolio and products across different segments. We have not taken up the challenge to capture each and every market segment as we want to consolidate and make our businesses sustainably profitable, which will remain our focus area while we try to gain more market share and look at which other global products of Volkswagen group can be brought in. But, to be specific, the premiumization of the Indian market is for sure a welcome shift for the group.
Are you planning an India-specific EV or Made-in-India EV?
It’s in the evaluation phase. We are in 2022, so we are looking to do this towards the second half of the decade.
