Škoda Auto Volkswagen India Private Limited (SAVWIPL) is gearing up for an aggressive product push in 2026, with as many as 19 product interventions planned across its portfolio, even as it navigates global uncertainties and evolving customer sentiment.

"We are talking about 18-19 product interventions across the group. And this is what we are looking at for this year and these product interventions are in the local product, parts and components, cars, FBUs, all kinds of segments of the complete portfolio which we have," Piyush Arora, Managing Director & CEO, Škoda Auto Volkswagen India said.

SAVWIPL said its six brands—Škoda, Volkswagen, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Porsche—will see launches spanning multiple segments this year. Within this, Volkswagen India has committed to at least four product actions this year. “We have already introduced two models this year and every quarter you will see one action from our side. So we remain committed on that. As of now, the plan stays home," said Nitin Kohli, brand director, Volkswagen India. 

The group, however, is seeing short-term demand fluctuations, particularly for imported vehicles, amid ongoing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) discussions. “Some amount of challenge we are seeing as customer expectation are changing with evolving FTA discussions," Arora said. He added that the uncertainty has led to delayed purchase decisions. "In the first few months, we have seen for the FBU, quite substantial amount of wait and watch kind of a push from the customers," he adds. Despite this, he expects sentiment to stabilise.

He added that that ongoing FTA discussions could benefit the company’s import strategy. “This gives us an opportunity to get the cars faster, this will help us get new models to test the waters,” he said, adding that the approach will begin with imports before scaling volumes locally.

On the broader market, Arora pointed to strong demand trends post GST, particularly in the early part of the year. “Post GST the demand which we have seen, the upswing we saw in the first quarter, the market  has grown by double digits which many of us were not expecting,” he said. However, he cautioned that geopolitical developments could weigh on demand going forward. “West Asia war impact could be seen in the second quarter. It is a challenging quarter for automotive industry," he added.

From a growth perspective, Volkswagen India continues to evaluate high-volume categories like sub-4 metre SUVs. “Sub-4 metre is a space which is a volume driven space. It almost caters to 28-29% of the segment and even higher if I take overall,” Kohli said.

The broader strategy, he explained, remains anchored around the India 2.0 programme. “The whole idea was we get first the FPU models, test the waters and now democratise those in the form of the India 2.0 cars. Our strategy currently is we do the volume with India 2.0 cars,” he said.

He added that the company is continuously evaluating “various different markets, various different segments and various different powertrains” with current volumes largely driven by India 2.0 products and ongoing model interventions.
Volkswagen India is targeting double-digit growth, supported by its upcoming launches. Kohli said, “As a brand, we are looking at a double-digit growth this year, given the new product interventions that we have lined up."