The latest car maker to benefit from the boom in the Indian Auto industry is, the world’s largest car maker, Volkswagen Group. The Volkswagen Group entered India with their Skoda brand and then moved onto Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and finally the flag ship brand. It was only in 2008 that Volkswagen set their foot in India with the Volkswagen Jetta.
According to Volkswagen’s official reports, the company has boosted its sales by about 10 times than what it achieved in 2009. To put things into perspective, during the year 2009, Volkswagen sold 3,039 cars whereas in the financial year 2010, the company ended up with about 28,745 units. Most of the success can be attributed to the company’s small car, the Volkswagen Polo and the sedan based on the same, the Volkswagen Vento. Increase in number of dealerships from 40 to 70 also took place during this period and hence fortified the car buying public’s faith in the company.
Volkswagen top officials are very happy with the sales figures however they are skeptical of 2011 and have mentioned that it would be a hard task maintaining those sales figures let alone succeed them. The company’s new sedan, the Volkswagen Vento as well as the hatchback Polo have long waiting periods for them and many automobile forums have seen disgruntled customers complaining about the apathy of Volkswagen dealers.
In the same vein, India’s number one car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Limited have again gained from the previous year and have reported an increase in sales by a good 18%. It is a well known fact that out of every two cars sold in India, one is a Maruti. Cumulative sales for the company, for the month of December 2010, ranked in at 99,235 units whereas for the same period in 2009 saw the company sell 84,908 units. This saying, the exports for the company did suffer and they could transport only 9,756 units compared to 2009’s 13,804 cars. This is a drop by about 30%. Strong sales from the new Maruti Alto K10 as well as the Maruti Swift and Swift Dzire made the company’s day.
