Luxury car maker Audi India, as a strategy, decided to increase the ratio of petrol variants of its models in sync with a shift in buyers’ preference,said a top company official.
“In 2015, we had 90% diesel engines,” said Rahil Ansari, head, Audi India, in an interview. “Since then, the ratio of petrol engines have increased from 10% to 30% now. We are further increasing this ratio,” he said.
He said the ban on high-powered diesel cars in NCR and change in customer sentiment contributed to this major shift.
“Customer sentiment has changed. Earlier people were buying diesel cars for the advantage of total cost of ownership. People have now started realising that if their mileage is so low, it makes no sense to drive a diesel car and they are preferring a petrol one. That tendency has now increased,” Mr. Ansari said.
“It is clear part of our strategy to increase that shift from diesel to petrol. By 2020, 50% of our products will be petrol or [will] run on alternative fuel. Electric Vehicle (EV) is the future,” he added.
At a time when the Indian government has set a deadline for the passenger vehicles segment to switch over to EVs by 2030, Audi is investing heavily to develop EVs in its portfolio.
“By 2020, Audi will be introducing three EVs globally. From 2020 to 2025, we will be unveiling one EV per year and by 2025, we are expecting a mix of 30% of EVs in the entire Audi portfolio,” he added.
The company on Monday introduced the petrol version of its Q7 SUV and said it has plans to come out with more petrol variants.
Since beginning of 2017 Audi India has so far introduced 7 new models and three more will be introduced in this quarter including the A5 which is placed in between the A4 and the A6. Almost half of the product introduction are in petrol.
‘Audi Sport’
As the performance car segment is gradually growing in India, Audi is now evaluating options to bring its Audi Sport brand to India to effectively compete with the AMG brand of Mercedes-Benz.
“Audi Sport has made a great presence globally. We have not yet introduced it in India. Currently we are evaluating. We already have some promised performance cars in India which include the R8, RS7. So naturally it makes since to introduce Audi Sport as an option,” he added.
He said in case the GST Council, at its meeting on September 9, 2017, decides to increase the cess on luxury cars, then sales will decline in double digits compared with the double digit growth witnessed after the price correction since June.
“I still believe that the GST Council will not increase the cess. In case they do, we will be at last year’s level. India is a strategic market for us. We have already lined up our product portfolio for the next 12 to 18 months. We will not change it immediately in case of an adverse decision. We will have to see the impact. In case there will be a decline happening, we will be forced to reevaluate our business plan. But not immediately,” he added.
