According to a senior business official, Volkswagen may explore launching a mass-market electric vehicle in India around 2025, when the segment is likely to gain substantial traction in the country. The company, which unveiled the Virtus mid-size sedan for the Indian market on Tuesday, may explore bringing in some international battery-electric cars first to gauge market reaction.
When asked when the company may consider bringing such models to the local market, Sharma replied: “We already have a large portfolio of electric vehicles (EVs) all over the world. Electrification is divided into two parts. Do we introduce some models into the Indian market, for example? Yes, we are considering importing and putting some electric vehicles into the market to test them out… How do our worldwide vehicles fit into the market? What is the level of acceptance?”
“It is safe to presume,” Sharma replied when asked if it was safe to assume that Volkswagen would have a product intervention (EV launch) only around that time.
In terms of market expectations and sales goals, he stated that the company plans to treble its sales volume this year.
“We intend to increase our volume by 2022. We sold close to 26,000 units last year, and we expect to sell close to 60,000 this year “Sharma stated his opinion.
In the domestic market, he claimed that the company’s long-term goal is to reach a 3% market share by 2025.
“With the statistics, we have anticipated for this year, we are very close to reaching 2%, so we will surely surpass 2% market share from next year onward,” Sharma added.
He claimed that the company’s recently debuted mid-sized SUV Tiagun has gotten a lot of positive feedback.
According to Sharma, the brand has received over 20,000 bookings and has already delivered 12,500 units.
He stated that the situation has improved since last year in terms of the continuous chip shortage.
The company produces its products at a manufacturing factory in Chakan (near Pune), which has a capacity of 2 lakh units per year.
Despite many hurdles like COVID and subsequent lockdowns, Sharma noted that demand for autos has remained strong in the country.
In terms of new product introductions, Sharma stated that the company would initially like to focus on establishing existing models and maximizing their market potential before introducing new ones.
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