Luxury EV market to quadruple by FY24, says Audi India's Balbir Singh Dhillon

India’s luxury EV market is on track to grow at a fast clip, with an increasing disposable income among HNIs, leading to a perceptible shift in lifestyles and preferences.

Total revenue from luxury EV sales is expected to climb from US $100 million in FY23, (Rs 830 crores) to US $ 400 million (Rs 3220 crore) by FY24, backed by a sharp uptick in consumer demand coming in from first-time luxury car buyers moving towards zero-emission vehicles.

Luxury EV sales are expected to quadruple from 500-600 electric cars in FY23 to around 2000 electric cars by the end of FY24, according to Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head of Audi India, on the sidelines of the launch of the Audi Q8 e-tron and Q8 Sportback e-tron in Mumbai. "While luxury EVs account for only 5% of total luxury car sales, we expect this segment to grow by 15% or more," he added. Audi India has already delivered 3474 units in the first half of 2023, after selling 4,187 units last year, the management said in its presentation today.

Dhillon said many first-time users from India's highly paid rising technology workforce looking to own a luxury car are making the shift to buying EVs as part of their lifestyle connect to contributing towards clean mobility. “We are also seeing a good appetite for luxury EVs from the founders of the start-up community, HNI's working for investment banks, PE fund decision-makers are making luxury EVs as the first-choice car backed by a growing network of fast chargers in the country."

Audi India has already delivered 3,474 units in the first half of 2023, after selling 4,187 units last year, the management said in its presentation today.

The German luxury car maker today launched the Q8 e-tron in India with the SUV's prices starting at Rs 1.14 crore and the Sportback starting at Rs 1.18 crore (ex-showroom, India).

In an earlier interaction with Autocar Professional, Dhillon had said that the shift towards EVs is a given and we will strongly participate (in this segment).”

India's luxury electric vehicle market, which is experiencing three-digit growth of around 140 percent or more, is expected to see the introduction of eleven electric luxury cars and SUVs, with Audi, BMW, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, and Volvo all introducing new models.

Earlier, Santosh Iyer, Managing Director of Mercedes-Benz India told Autocar Professional that the country's leading luxury car manufacturer has outlined a very aggressive roadmap for BEVs (battery electric vehicles) in India. The three-pointed star's creator has announced the release of several new BEVs from its global portfolio in the next 8-16 months.

For him, the biggest priority is to build the desirability of the brand over volumes. In line with the global vision, the company’s top-end vehicle or TEV portfolio priced over Rs 1.5 crore has been the fastest growing accounting for almost 25% of its overall sales.

Mercedes Benz expects EVs to contribute to 25% of its sales by 2025.

BMW expects full-electric models to account for at least 20 percent of total sales by 2024 and 50 percent "well ahead of 2030.

On the sidelines of today’s interaction, when asked if volumes would surpass the company's peak of 11,192 units in 2015, Dhillon of Audi stated that he is seeing 60:40 SUV to Sedan growth for his ICE to Electric vehicle sales in the country, and Audi India is also targeting record sales to end FY24.

Audi, which has the Audi Q3, Audi Q5, Audi Q7, and Audi Q8 SUVs, is seeing strong growth in the Audi Q3 Sportback, which accounts for one-third of its SUV sales.

"We expect a similar contribution from the newly introduced Q8 Sportback e-tron, as we see consumers using its 600 km IDC range for intercity rather than intracity use due to range anxiety concerns," Dhillon stated.