According to a senior company official, the Volkswagen Group, a German auto major, has begun testing electric vehicles made by SKODA in India. It is evaluating the products that will be brought to India for electromobility.
Piyush Arora (managing director, SKODA AUTO Volkswagen India), has taken over the leadership of India’s growth. He stated that India’s infrastructure and ecosystem will be key to bringing EVs to the masses.
He stated that he recognized the Indian demand for electric vehicles and had launched the Porsche Taycan as well as the Audi e-Tron in an interview.
He also said, “We are also looking at SKODA, Volkswagen, and what products we should bring to the Indian market for electric mobility.” “We have already tested some vehicles for the SKODA brand. We will evaluate when it is the right time to bring them into India,” Arora responded to a query about the Indian electric vehicle plans of the VW group.
The all-electric Porsche Taycan starts at Rs 1.5 crore. While the Audi e-tron ranges between Rs 99.99 lakh and Rs 1.18 crore.
He said that electro-mobility was a top-down strategy with luxury brands. Products have been launched into the Indian market. Audi and Porsche both have extremely successful electric cars in India. He added that they are also considering SKODA and Volkswagen cars. We are currently testing some of these cars, and once we have finalized the model, the next step will be the local assembly. When the market is ready, we will move on to portfolio localization.
Arora stated that electrification is taking place at different levels globally. Europe has already committed to selling zero-emission cars by 2035. China is moving at an extremely fast pace, and North America is expected also to move at a faster rate.
Although India was expected to move quickly, the country started to show signs of moving faster, he said.