Volkswagen may make India a manufacturing hub

The Volkswagen Ameo was developed specifically for the Indian market, highlighting the growing importance of India on VW’s strategic map. But there is more to that than just India-specific models. VW’s growth trend here suggests that India could become something of a manufacturing hub for the German automaker, at least for ASEAN markets, if not beyond.

JurgenStackmann, a member of the Brand Board of Management, VW Passenger Cars, told us that the strategy for India is two-fold – on the retail side, VW wants to become the most affordable and accessible German brand here, and on the manufacturing side, local engineering and export manufacturing are becoming big focal points; VW’s biggest selling car in Mexico, says Stackmann, is produced in India and local concepts like the Ameo could be developed to extend to other ASEAN marketsbeyond India.

We also expect a flood of new VW cars to come to India. VW set up shop here in 2008, and are thus reaching the end of their first product cycle. We are already set to receive the new Passat this year, followed by the Tiguan in 2017. As this top-down approach moves forward, expect a VW to make its presence felt in every segment of the Indian automobile market soon.