Luxury car market to grow at double the pace of mainstream market: Balbir Singh Dhillon

The Indian luxury car market will continue to grow at double the pace of the mainstream car market and reach 1 lakh units in annual sales by 2030. That's the word coming in from the head of Audi India, Balbir Singh Dhillon. 

This translates to a 100% growth in volumes from the 2024 base of 50,000 units.

Addressing the media on the sidelines of Thursday's all-new Q7 launch in Mumbai, Dhillon said the automotive industry has been recovering fantastically post-pandemic. It is believed that this year, it should produce about 4.2 million cars, and the luxury space, while small, will hit a new high of 50,000 cars.

While the overall market is likely to grow at a healthy clip, Dhillon said, the brand will likely slip into negative territory due to supply-side challenges. He, however, expects to return to the market growth rate, or even faster in 2025.

He further added that 2023 - 2028 would witness the highest growth for any country in the number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs). India is home to 13,263 UHNIs (CY23), which will increase to 19,908 by CY28 (50.1% growth). 

The number of HNIs in the country will grow from 7.9 lakh to 1.6 million people, the biggest driver of fresh demand for luxury cars in the coming decade.

With rising disposable incomes, brands once considered premium are becoming mass brands and there has been a conscious shift in behaviour towards consuming luxury posts covid, feels Dhillon.

“India’s luxury goods market is estimated to expand 3.5x by 2030 (fastest growing luxury market globally) to about 30 billion dollars from the current 8.5 billion dollars,” he added.

“The Indian stock market crossed a market capitalisation of USD 4 trillion, becoming the 4th biggest equity market globally. There is a sustained inflow from FIIs, the retail investor base is growing rapidly amid robust domestic macros and strong corporate earnings,” he said, explaining the factors behind the long term optimistic view on the Indian market.