German auto major Volkswagen has had many trysts with the Indian market, and after spending close to 16 years (it was in 2007 that Volkswagen first introduced the Passat in India) in the country, is now started seeing positive growth. The carmaker for years has struggled to capture relevant share in the country, despite bringing in several of its proven models in the country.
While Volkswagen has a strong presence in Europe and China and aims to keep it that way, it further sees the United States and India to further help growth.
In an interview with The Porsche Consulting Magazine, Dr Arno Antilitz, CFO, said, “We are also looking to India to be much more robust in this new world. India, in my view, has enormous opportunities for growth. We need to be even more global in order to be truly resilient.”
This indicates the kind of potential that India has now positioned itself to globally. The Volkswagen Group as part of its future growth strategy has taken several steps in the Indian market, be it forming a strategic partnership to supply components to Mahindra & Mahindra for its new range of electric SUVs, or bring in new products that have attracted new customers.
With the Indian consumers becoming more safety conscious, Volkswagen has upped its game too. In fact, the carmaker has also focussed on getting its new range of products to get its made-in-India products voluntarily tested by global safety agencies.
What’s more if one looks at the investment by Volkswagen Group in India, it is clear that the automaker has truly committed itself for the long-run. The company has set-up a manufacturing facility in Chakan, Maharashtra, where it can produce around 200,000 units per annum. The facility is said to be the only production plant operated by a German automaker in India that covers the entire production process, from press shop through body shop and paint shop to final assembly.
Speaking about established players having the baggage of legacy products versus new EV-only entrants, he said that while they had the “certain chance of starting from scratch, they first had to scale and build infrastructure around production, sales and financing in order to become really relevant.”
