“13 new models between 20192022”

Bernhard Maier, CEO, Skoda Auto on India 2.0 Project

”By 2025 we are electrifying every model in our line-up. First cars built on the group’s electric platform will hit the market by the end of 2020. We are in the midst of the biggest product onslaught the company has ever seen. 13 new models will be launched between 2019 and 2022 and 10 of them will be electrified.

”The challenges for EVs are not different from the rest of the world. The problem is two-fold. First you need infrastructure. The second thing is that the technology is more expensive if you look at the material costs compared to ICE technology. Without enough government subventions, EVs won’t pick up. Take the examples from Europe. When you look at countries like Norway, places in Scandinavia or even the Netherlands, you see a steep ramp up curve for EV adoption. The good news is that India is spending heavily on infrastructure and as soon as there is infrastructure we will be more than happy to bring electric cars here.

”Once the Vision IN is successfully implemented, we can think further. We need predictable and reliable guidelines for vehicle development as that will help create sustainable and environmentally friendly cars. If there is a clear need for a car below four metres and we have stepped into our project in a successful manner, this platform is versatile for almost any kind of product.

“If the investments from the Indian government work out well, there is a good chance that India soon will become the third largest automotive market. If that is the case, we certainly want to have a decent portion of the market.

”Our customers have specific requirements which can only be met if we locally develop the cars in India. If we are listening to them, trying to find suppliers to match our quality requirements and by reducing the complexity cost, we can cater to the market here. The logistical costs saved by building the cars here will help us to be more competitive in the future in India.”