Czech automaker Skoda, which is part of Skoda Auto Volkswagen India, has more than doubled its India sales to nearly 54,000 units in 2022. Its success comes on the back of an aggressive network expansion initiative, and bringing down cost of ownership, as well as the success of its India 2.0 products. India is now Skoda’s largest market outside Europe and the third-biggest globally, said Petr Solč, brand director, Skoda Auto India. The Indian automotive market has steadily climbed up the global charts in the last two years to become the third largest in the world by volumes in 2022, overtaking Japan. Two years ago, India was the fifth largest car market. That said, it continues to lag global peers in terms of the value of automobiles sold. All the three OEMs have given the Auto Expo, which starts Wednesday, a miss.
India has been steadily capturing a greater share of the businesses of luxury players like BMW and Mercedes-Benz, though absolute volumes are relatively low to make it to the top 10 markets for auto majors.
In volume terms, the luxury segment accounts for just 1% of the domestic car market. However, India’s growing affluent customer base, including the youth, makes it an outperformer in emerging markets. This has prompted leadership teams in Europe to increase allocations to the country. “In India, we increased our sales 37% in 2022 on a year-on-year basis. On the other hand, our global sales were down 4.5% compared to the previous year due to the situation in China. Therefore, the weight of India in total sales internationally is growing," Jean-Philippe Parain, senior vice president, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, BMW Group, said.
“We are pleased with this development. India was one of the fastest growing markets in 2022. In this performance, we saw a relatively evenly spread performance across our product portfolio", Parain added.
“We will prioritize India in our allocations as it gets more relevance in the eyes of our colleagues, many of who are actively visiting the market to ensure we are geared up for growth," he said. Parain said while the global economy looks uncertain, he is relatively confident of India witnessing a good growth rate, although the company will watch for signs of waning demand here too.
BMW recently launched its flagship electric sedan, the i7, in India, which will take on Mercedes-Benz EQS. “This was a segment where we were lagging. We’ll keep addressing the gaps in our portfolio," Parain said. BMW sold over 11,000 units in India in 2022. Mercedes-Benz India, the market leader in the luxury segment, sold nearly 16,000 units, while Audi India sold just over 4,000 units.
For Mercedes Benz, India is the only market outside Europe where the EQS is assembled locally, underscoring its strategic relevance as a destination for localized products. It launched a niche performance-oriented convertible, the AMG E53 Cabriolet, priced at over ₹1 crore last week.“We derive 22% of our volumes, or nearly 3,000 cars, annually from the top-end segment—cars priced ₹1 crore and above—where we lead the market by a big margin. In 2023, we feel we are again poised for double-digit growth based on our strategy to pull in customers at the top-end", Santosh Iyer, managing director and chief executive, Mercedes Benz India, said.
