Banking on its new SUVs like Taigun and Tiguan, and the upcoming mid-size sedan Virtus, Volkswagen Passenger Cars India is aiming to more than double its domestic sales volume to around 60,000 units in 2022, according to a senior company official. The automaker sold nearly 26,000 units in 2021.
The company currently sells Polo, Taigun and Tiguan. It will soon stop the production of Polo, and recently stopped selling the Vento mid-size sedan in the country.
“If you look at how we ended 2021, we ended up selling close to 26,000 cars. We wanted to sell around 30,000, but because of the semiconductor issue, we could only deliver around 26,000 cars. This year, I am planning to more than double my volume. So closer to 60,000,” Ashish Gupta, brand director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars India, told FE during the global unveil of Virtus on Tuesday.
Virtus is Volkswagen Passenger Cars India’s second model to be introduced under Volkswagen Group’s India 2.0 project, after the Taigun mid-size SUV. Skoda Auto, which is also a part of Volkswagen Group, has already launched the Kushaq mid-size SUV and Slavia mid-size sedan under the India 2.0 project.
Based on the group’s India-specific MQB-A0-IN platform with up to 95% localisation levels, Virtus will be launched in the country around May.
In the domestic market, Volkswagen Virtus will rival Honda City, Hyundai Verna, Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and Skoda Slavia. It will also be exported from India to over 25 countries.
When asked about the declining demand for sedans in India, Gupta said, “If you look at the sedan body style, I’m not talking about the segment Virtus is entering, but as a sedan body style, it still constitutes around 12-14% of the Indian market, which means around four lakh cars a year. So that is a sizeable market and a sizeable number of customers who still prefer the sedan body style.”
“So the love of sedans has not gone away. What has been missing in the premium mid-size sedan segment is a differentiated option for the customer. When I say differentiated, it means a product or an offering which is European by nature, which is differentiated in terms of dimension, performance and features, which Virtus is. I’m sure with the introduction of Virtus the segment is going to grow further,” he said.
On the semiconductor shortage, Gupta said there is a slight improvement in the situation compared to Q4 2021.
“In October 2021, the visibility in terms of production was only around two weeks. It has improved to four to six weeks now. But still very far away from the ideal situation of 12-16 weeks of visibility. So the situation is improving, and from what I understand from my group colleagues worldwide is that the second half of this year is when the things are going to be slightly better…,” he said.
