Volkswagen Group, which is the parent company of Skoda India Auto has plans to invest an amount of $1.16 billion (Rs 79 billion) in the Indian operations of Skoda under a programme named ‘India 2.0’.
The basic purpose of this investment is to develop fresh products and improve localization. Along with this, it will involve the creation of an engineering centre, capacity enhancement, R&D, new technologies and increase production. According to the reports, the investment programme – ‘India 2.0’ will take place between 2019 and 2021.
Skoda Auto’s Chief Executive Bernhard Maier said, “Experts predict that in the next few years India is going to become the third-largest automotive market worldwide. With our ‘India 2.0’ project we are now creating the right conditions for sustainable growth there.”
Apart from the above-mentioned things, Volkswagen also intends to expand its manufacturing unit at Aurangabad in western India to help reach its market share to 5 percent by 2025. The company stated that the next models designed and produced locally in India in the future will be on the basis of Volkswagen Group’s MQB platform.
The company claims that the objective is ambitious but it can be achieved if it put good efforts along with Volkswagen. To make sure that the planned models will reach up to the requirements of Indian customers, Skoda will build these products at the world-class engineering centre.
“Skoda and Volkswagen will develop several products based on this platform. The model campaign will begin in 2020 with a mid-size SUV,” the company said in a statement.
The other major information regarding this project is that the company plans to create around 4,000-5,000 fresh jobs. The new cars will use an Indian version of Volkswagen’s MQB A0 vehicle platform and that will follow the stricter emission and safety standards that are expected to come in existence in 2020.
It seems that India is becoming a trending market for all the sectors for the purpose of growth and expansion. After digital, e-commerce, smartphone companies, now, the automobile companies are also increasing investment in the Indian market.