Скачать или смотреть Interview with Steffen Knapp, Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars | PART ONE

In the market for over a decade now, Volkswagen India hasn’t exactly set sales charts afire. Last year, the VW Group launched an ‘India 2.0’ project to drive the next phase of growth in what it recognises as an extremely important market. Auto Tech Review recently spoke to Steffen Knapp, Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, to understand the company’s views on a variety of subjects. Clearly, the company’s commitment to India is unwavering.

With over 20 years of experience in the automotive industry, Steffen Knapp has been at the helm of a broad range of leadership roles across locations in Europe. During his tenure, he has headed several strategic and managerial positions across brands, including leadership roles at SEAT and Ford Motor Company in Europe. He holds a degree in Managerial Economics from European Business School Schloß Reichartshausen (EBS), Oestrich-Winkel, Germany and American Graduate School of International Management, Arizona, USA. In his current role as Director of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Knapp leads the sales, marketing and aftersales activities in India. He lives in India with his wife and two children.

ATR _ The growth of the Indian automotive industry in recent times has been stymied by a variety of factors. What will drive future growth for Volkswagen India?

Steffen Knapp _ The fundamental for our growth will be the India 2.0 project. Our decision to produce and develop cars that are more Indianised and more locally engineered will move us into a next level. There are people who question us about being in the country for 10 years and yet having just a 2 % market share. I think it is a natural thing that you have to develop a brand first and it takes some time; particularly in a country where the segment we are selling in was not available 10 years ago and our target group was pretty small.

Moving our products into the heartland and creating value for money products within the India 2.0 project, which is related as you know to higher localisation, will enable us to grow in this country at a higher speed than the market. Our vision is clearly to get the Volkswagen group to a 5 % market share in the upcoming years, and for Volkswagen Passenger Cars, we’re striving for 3 %. With this, we’re looking to create a sustainable future for our ecosystem in India, be it our partners, ourselves or our customers.

Within the India 2.0 project, give us an understanding on the engineering and R&D work that’s scheduled to happen for VW.

When we created this project, we asked ourselves what were the necessary ingredients needed to be successful in this market, and what did we learn in the last 10 years. India 2.0 is all about developing the right product for the Indian market and be successful in India. That’s the first and key objective. And to be successful in India you have to do it the Indian way in terms of designing, developing and localising the products.

As a second step in the India 2.0 project, there are some other ideas. If Skoda is going to be responsible as a lead brand for India, a hub can also be created for Thailand or Malaysia. That is a potential second step, and is not our key focus at this stage. India 2.0 is clearly focussed on India.