Volkswagen looks at Skoda to produce localized cars for the Indian market

Volkswagen India’s automotive offerings are actually over delivering for the Indian market, according to Steffen Knapp, director of passenger cars, Volkswagen India. As told to the Economic Times, the company will now be looking to develop more region-specific offerings from sub brand **Skoda Auto** . [caption id=“attachment_4131437” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The Volkswagen logo on a concept car. Reuters[/caption] Knapp said that Volkswagen needed more regionalised products that would help them get closer to the customer. So in the process of identifying these regional groups globally, it was decided that India was a specific region by itself, meaning that company need to have a local R&D team. The group then setup a local R&D team in Pune that works to develop their own smaller bits that should help in the regionalisation process. In the midst of this, Skoda was given the responsibility to come up with cost effective products for emerging markets. This is also because Knapp believes that Volkswagen cars are over-engineered for the Indian market. In an interview with ET, Knapp said, “You are not driving at 200 km on an autobahn” he emphasized need for better connectivity instead. According to the report, the Pune R&D team has already identified the solutions and is working on them, but timeline or a specific date for this regional product has yet to be finalised.