Volkswagen to merge three passenger vehicle units in India.

German auto-maker Volkswagen Group on Wednesday said it will merge its three Indian passenger vehicle subsidiaries in a bid to corner larger market share in the highly competitive car market.

Volkswagen Group brands such as Volkswagen, Skoda, Audi, Porsche and Lamborghini will maintain their individual identities, dealer networks and customer experience initiatives. However, the brands will work under the leadership of Gurpratap Boparai with a common strategy for the Indian market.

This restructuring of the Volkswagen Group companies is a part of the Skoda-led ‘INDIA 2.0’ project of the Volkswagen group. Under the project, the Volkswagen Group had confirmed investments of Rs. 8,000 crore in India.

Three entities — Volkswagen India Private Ltd. (VWIPL), Volkswagen Group Sales India Private Ltd (NSC) and Skoda Auto India Private Ltd. (SAIPL) — will be merged as part of this plan.

“India is an important and an attractive growth market for the Volkswagen Group. With the proposed merger, we intend to combine the technical and managerial expertise of the three companies to unlock the Volkswagen Group’s true potential in India’s competitive automotive market. The integration will lead to faster decision making and increased efficiency using existing synergies,” said Gurpratap Boparai, Managing Director, Volkswagen India Private Ltd and Skoda Auto India Private Ltd.

The proposed merger of the three companies will make more efficient use of the existing synergies in developing this important growth market, the company said in a statement. In January, the technology centre was opened in Pune, laying the foundation for the development of products based on the localised sub-compact MQB-A0-IN platform tailored to the needs of customers in the Indian subcontinent. In the second phase of the project, the Volkswagen Group will be examining the possibility of exporting vehicles built in India.

HBL