Volkswagen testing electric vehicles under Skoda brand for India

German auto major Volkswagen group has started testing some electric vehicles from the ŠKODA brand in India as it evaluates the products to be brought to the country for electromobility targeting the mass segment, according to a senior company official.

The group, which has given the responsibility of leading its growth in India to ŠKODA AUTO, will also continue to focus on internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles as it feels that bringing EVs at a large scale will depend on the ecosystem and infrastructure development in the country, said Piyush Arora, managing director, ŠKODA AUTO Volkswagen India.

“We recognise that there is demand in India for electric vehicles, so we have already launched Porsche Taycan and the Audi e-Tron which are doing extremely well in the Indian market,” he told PTI in an interview.

At the same time, he added, “We are also evaluating for ŠKODA and Volkswagen and what products should we bring into the Indian market for electromobility. We have already run some test vehicles for the ŠKODA brand, we will evaluate the right time to introduce them in India.” Arora was responding to a query on VW group’s electric vehicle plans for the Indian market below the luxury segment. 

The all-electric Porsche Taycan has a starting price of Rs 1.5 crore, while the Audi e-tron price ranges from Rs 99.99 lakh to Rs 1.18 crore.

In terms of electro-mobility, he said, “We have followed a top-down approach with our luxury brands, already launching products into the market. Both Audi and Porsche have very successful electric vehicles in the Indian market.” He further said, “We are also looking at Volkswagen and ŠKODA cars which we can bring in. We are doing testing of some of those cars and once we conclude on the model, the next step is the local assembly of one of the cars out of here. We will subsequently graduate to portfolio localisation when the market is ready.”

Globally, Arora said electrification is happening at different levels with Europe already committed to selling all new zero-emission vehicles by 2035, while China is moving at a very fast pace and North America is expected to also move at a faster pace.

The expectation was not very high that India would move, but the country began to show initial signs that it is moving at a much faster pace, he added.