Škoda Auto Volkswagen India Private Limited (ŠAVWIPL) on Wednesday said that it has exported a total of 500,000 cars made in India ever since 2010, when it started its exports programme. This year, the company exported over 25,000 cars, it said.

The current year’s exports account for almost 45 per cent share of production despite the challenging market conditions across the world due to the pandemic, said ŠAVWIPL.

“Škoda Auto Volkswagen India’s export programme continues to perform steadily despite a global slowdown and the impact due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” the company said in a statement.

The ‘milestone vehicle’ or the 500,000th car to be exported is a white Volkswagen Vento (Left Hand Drive), a part of a shipment of 982 cars being shipped to Mexico from the port of Mumbai, it said.

On October 7, 2019, Volkswagen Group India had announced the merger of its three Indian subsidiaries — Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd (VWIPL), Volkswagen Group Sales India Pvt Ltd (NSC) and Škoda Auto India Pvt Ltd (ŠAIPL) - into a single entity named Škoda Auto Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd. Gurpratap Boparai was appointed as the first Managing Director of Škoda Auto Volkswagen India.

ŠAVWIPL started its exports program in 2010 with 65 units of the India-built Volkswagen Vento for the South Africa market, and since then has continued to grow incrementally to build the ‘Made in India’ presence to 61 countries across South America, Central America, Africa, the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, the GCC countries and to the Caribbean region.

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Export programme

“Exports are an integral part of our strategy and achieving five lakh units is a significant milestone for the company. Cars produced at the Škoda Auto Volkswagen manufacturing sites exemplify high quality standards we pursue globally and in India. The achievement gains more significance as we continue to export vehicles despite the current challenges in the industry on account of Covid-19 disruptions,” said Boparai.

“Over the next years, we will be producing cars based on the new MBQ A0 IN platform with a high degree of localisation and will continue to explore exports markets for the India 2.0 products,” said Boporai.

The export programme aids the company to sustainably manage production volumes with a healthy production share between domestic to export markets to tide over regional volatility of demand protecting the interest of the company as well as its workers, the company said.

The future range of products starting 2021 will reach a higher level of localisation (up to 95 per cent). “The four new products developed for the Indian Market for Škoda Auto and Volkswagen — consisting of SUVs and notchbacks — will be evaluated for exports to similar markets requiring robust built and efficient cars,” the company said.