Volkswagen slow on India EV roadmap as rivals accelerate

Luxury carmaker Audi has joined Skoda and Volkswagen in signalling that their parent, the Volkswagen Group, is yet to finalise its electric vehicle (EV) strategy for India, highlighting the German automaker's cautious approach even as rivals scale up EV bets in the country.

- Ayaan Kartik

In an interview with Mint, Audi India's top executives said that the company has exhausted its current resource allocation for the EV business and is in discussions with its headquarters for the next phase, echoing earlier comments from Skoda and Volkswagen India leadership, and leaving the Wolfsburg-based Volkswagen Group among the few major foreign carmakers without a clear EV roadmap for the country.

This is in contrast with other foreign luxury car makers like Mercedes and BMW and mass-market players like Renault, Honda, Hyundai, VinFast and Suzuki that have announced their EV plans for India and committed to scale their sales over the next few years. "We aren't selling an electric car because we have been selling it for the last 3-4 years. The quota that was allocated to us, the cars that we were selling got over," Balbir Singh Dhillon, brand director at Audi India, told Mint ahead of its latest car launch.