We are one of the shining markets globally and we will continue to be: Audi India Head

I think 2023 was a very good year for the industry. Not only did the luxury car space grow by 20 y-o-y, it was also at an all-time high. Still, it remains to be a little more than one per cent in the overall car segment. But I think we are in the right direction, and this year also, we believe the industry will continue to grow, may not by 20 per cent, but may be in the range of 10-12 per cent and to that extent, we also expect our sales to grow. Of course, there are challenges, like the supply chain for this quarter suddenly changing because of the Red Sea situation, where the containers need to be rerouted, and that puts a challenge on production for two to six weeks. So, we will have fewer cars to sell, but I hope that we recover this subsequently and no more problems come. But prediction is a bit of a challenge now; it’s difficult to predict for the whole year. We can predict only a quarter at the most. We are in a very new world. Something or another is happening around. Sometimes it puts this kind of challenge where production becomes a risk. Sometimes the cost gets escalated because of multiple reasons: shipment costs, material costs going up, metal prices changing. It’s a dynamic world.

I think for most of the industry, but especially for the luxury space, because there is a lot of dependency for everybody in the supply chain overall. More in the luxury car segment and less in mass-market cars.

Yes, correct. Because I do believe that we will grow to that extent. I think the Indian economy is destined to grow by seven odd per cent in the coming decade, and I believe this kind of growth will continue to give us an impetus to grow every year, unless there is something that we are not able to predict right now. But, with the way things are, I think we will continue to grow. We are one of the shining markets globally, and we will continue to be so.

I will not be able to share more details right now, but we are also working on new products that will be available globally, and some of them will also make it into India. This year or next year, it depends on when they are available globally, and we will also get them here. But, of course, in the pyramid, we are only sitting at the top in terms of pricing ₹1.20 crore and above. We also need to get to the next level. So there are three levels: right now it is the top-end, then we need to get into below ₹ 1 crore (pricing) as a fully built unit (FBU), and then obviously whenever it is also decided to make cars locally, then we will also bring down the price points. So, these are the three structures in the price point strategy. Right now, we are only addressing the top one. We need to get into the middle and the bottom to address a wider section of potential buyers.

Most of the topics are addressed in the GST Council now in terms of taxation. I think we have come a long way in asking for many things. Whatever the government does, we have to comply, and we will comply with it as long as it is a level playing field for all the manufacturers. We just need a stable policy regime so that we know the policies for the next three to five to 10 years so that we can plan accordingly because our planning cycles are longer.

Tesla coming to India, I think, is more the merrier because everybody will help in setting up more infrastructure for charging, so that should help everybody. It will grow the industry, and of course this brings in more competition, and competition is always good for the customer, as they will be able to fetch the benefits. In terms of benefits to Tesla (from the government), as I said, a level playing field is all we expect. All should have the possibility to grow, and I am sure the government will be mindful of this.