The Indian market is complex but important: Werner Eichhorn

Interview with Member of the Board, Sales & Marketing, Skoda Auto

Last year Skoda clocked car sales of 15,800 in India with a market share of 0.5 per cent despite being in the market for more than two decades. But the Czech car maker is not giving up. Werner Eichhorn, Member of the Board, Sales & Marketing, Skoda Auto tells Swaraj Baggonkar the way forward. Edited excerpts:

Where is India placed on Skoda's global market chart?

We have seen some ups and downs. However, last year we consolidated our business and what we have seen now, especially after the Lok Sabha elections, is that the market is in a position to grow and play a strategic role. We are witnessing a growing market and hopefully, India will be at a 3 million level. Indian market is very complex but plays a very important role.

Where does India stand in global rankings in terms of volume?

Last year, we sold 1.55 million cars globallym, a sales record for Skoda. The single biggest market for us is China, where we sold 281,000 cars. Germany is the second biggest market with 160,000 cars and Czech Republic, our home market, saw nearly 85,000 cars being sold.

India is fairly limited at 15,800 cars but we see a great potential as India finds itself in the top 20 countries.

Skoda was known for its build quality and premiumness. But it lost its edge and is now struggling to make a comeback. What are your comments?

We learnt a lesson that whatever we do, we have to deliver on quality at the highest level and meet customer satisfaction. We got that right during the last two years and so the technical problems are under control. We consolidated the business last year and despite that the business saw growth and now we have a clear strategy with the Rapid, Octavia and Superb which we would like to have a presence in the value luxury market.

Will the new products stick to the original positioning of Skoda in the value luxury market?

Whatever new cars we'll bring, will have the same premium image we have today. We cannot afford to be a luxury brand and then offer budget cars. We operate at a certain price level, in which we are trying to make everything feasible.

In terms of localisation, where do you stand currently?

Sudhir Rao, chairman and managing director, Skoda Auto India – With the Rapid we are at 65 per cent and that is the highest and as you go down volume profile we have lesser localisation. So that is one area we are constantly looking at opportunities to increase localisation every quarter.

To be able to be more competitive you will have to increase the localisation level?

A big chunk of what is not localised is the powertrain. The last 15 per cent is very rare that anybody gets it.