Saar: Volkswagen Group will invest one billion euros (nearly Rs 7,900 crore) between 2019 and 2021, and targets five per cent combined market share of Skoda and Volkswagen by 2025.
Less than two weeks ago, Skoda Auto announced that it will lead Volkswagen Group’s ‘India 2.0’ project and that the first product launch will happen in 2020. It also announced that the said product will be a compact SUV and will be underpinned by Volkswagen’s MQB-A0 platform, which will be tweaked specifically for the Indian car market to create MQB-AO-IN. Now, the Czech carmaker has revealed more information about the ‘India 2.0’ project and it feels as if it is here to stay.
Between 2019 and 2021, Volkswagen Group will invest one billion euros (nearly Rs 7,900 crore) to implement the project properly. To ensure that the consumer demands are clear and are met in the forthcoming products, a project centre is being set up in India, where the vehicle development will take place. Under the India 2.0 project, Skoda Auto India will employ 4,000-5,000 direct and indirect employees. The Volkswagen Group is targeting a five per cent combined market share of Volkswagen and Skoda in India by 2025.
In a press release, Bernhard Maier, CEO, Skoda Auto, said:
With our ‘India 2.0’ project we are now creating the right conditions for sustainable growth there. Our objective is ambitious, but achievable: together with the Volkswagen brand, we are seeking a market share of up to five per cent in the long term, depending on market and segment development.
As stated above, the first phase of the ‘India 2.0’ project will include Skoda developing a compact SUV, tailor-made for India. In the second phase, Skoda will also assess the possibility of exporting vehicles manufactured in India to a number of developing markets around the globe. The company also reiterated that not one but several products will be built on the MQB-A0-IN platform. Needless to say, the skeleton will be shared between Skoda and Volkswagen products in India.
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Gurpratap Boparai, MD, Skoda Auto India Pvt. Ltd. further added:
In India, we will offer top-class products at prices that amount to a paradigm shift in the automotive industry. We will manufacture the new products locally based on the heavily localised MQB-A0 platform, which already fulfils the stricter emission and safety standards that are expected to come into force in India in 2020.
The first product, which will wear the Skoda badge, of this new project is likely to take on the likes of the Hyundai Creta and the Renault Duster.
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