German car maker Volkswagen is focussing on premium products in the country following its global strategy, according to a senior company official.
The company, which till about three-to-four years back was operating in a price bracket of Rs 6.5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh, has now moved up to an average price band of Rs 16 lakh offering feature-loaded products in order to meet the evolving customer demands.
“For the industry, in 2018 around 18 per cent of the cars sold in India were above Rs 10 lakh. Last year it was at around 40 per cent and this year in the first quarter it has already moved to about 43 per cent to 45 per cent,” Volkswagen Passenger Cars India brand director Ashish Gupta said.
“Customers are in a zone of no compromise. There is no compromise on features. There is no compromise on safety and regulation has also moved ahead,” he said.
According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data, domestic passenger wholesales were at 10.1 lakh units in January-March 2023 compared with 9.20 lakh units in the same period a year ago.
On Volkswagen’s (VW) strategy to meet the evolving customer requirements, Gupta said: “We have very clearly, as a brand, stated that we have moved up on the premiumisation stage. We will not be going back to sub-four metre of the Polo segment as such. We have moved the price points and the brand up.”
Three to four years ago, he said: “We were operating in a price bracket of Rs 6.5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh. Now, we operate in a price band of an average of Rs 16 lakh. So we have totally transformed.”
“If we look at the brand globally, that’s the sweet spot where the brand operates. We define ourselves as top of the volume. We play at the top part of the volume segments. That’s the positioning of the brand globally and our endeavour over the last three years has been to move to that positioning in India.”
Last year was the transition phase and out of over 42,000 cars sold by VW in India, around 4,000 were Polos and Ventos with the resultant average price point being around Rs 14 lakh to Rs 14.5 lakh, Gupta said adding, the transformation is also based on VW’s global strategy.
