Volkswagen looks at India as 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 in the country suggests that India could become something of a manufacturing hub for the German automaker, at least for ASEAN markets, if not beyond.

Jurgen Stackmann, a member of the Brand Board of Management, VW Passenger Cars, told Autocar India 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.

At the Ameo's launch in February, Michael Mayer, director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars India also spoke about India being an export hub for the automaker.

"We are exporting now from Chakan to almost 90 countries and there won’t be much left to export to except some European countries," said Mayer.

A flood of new VW cars are also expected to come to India. The company 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.