We have a lot of arrows in our quiver: Bernhard Maier, Chairman, Skoda

“We have a lot of arrows in our quiver, and all of them should hit the sweet spot,” says Bernhard Maier, chairman of Czech carmaker Skoda that will lead the Volkswagen Group’s India 2.0 drive. In an interview to ET’s Ketan Thakkar, Sharmistha Mukherjee and Nehal Chaliawala, Maier said the group is open to partnerships with peers if they are “mutually beneficial” even as it gears up for a more aggressive play in India backed by a billion-euro investment. Edited Excerpts:Will the outbreak of the coronavirus in China disrupt Skoda’s global supply chain?We are closely following the developments and right now we do not have any problem. Most of the products from China are delivered by ships and this takes more than six weeks to reach Europe. So, the pipeline is completely full for now. But if it (the virus outbreak) lasts longer, then, of course, it would affect our supply chain as well. The good thing is that we are prepared for that. We know exactly how many parts we do have for Skoda (from China) and it's exactly 295 (components), and we know each part by surname. A lot of our suppliers in China are international companies which are not only working in China but also in other countries as well. Now, it is a matter of organisation and supply chain management.In interviews as late as 2019, you had said you are bullish about India. Do you retain that confidence now given the market scenario?Yeah…otherwise, we wouldn't invest €1 billion in these times. We have seen some oscillating figures in the past couple of years, which is quite normal for a market at this stage of development. But if you look at the International Monetary Fund, what they predict for the year 2020 and 2021, it's quite promising. They say in 2020 we will see an increase of 5.8% in GDP. And we all know that the economy is always in a kind of a cycle. We have seen some problems in India in the last 18 to 24 months, but I'm sure the demand for mobility will rise even more in the future than what we have seen. And for that kind of development, we set up our India 2.0 initiative. If our plans work as we predicted, once the market is picking up and grows to a number of five to six million cars a year, as we mentioned, India might become our fifth biggest single market in the world.Have you ruled out partnerships with other carmakers, especially in India?No! We rule out nothing. Especially not in the years to come. If you look at the advantages of globalisation and the fast-pace development of our entire industry, I think it becomes absolutely clear that silo thinking is out and partnering is in. Once there is a solution which will be a win-win situation, we are open for discussions.Are you studying electric vehicles for the Indian market?Not yet. We started EV technology at Skoda which is called ID with a complete ecosystem around it. Our current product campaign, which is by all means the biggest one in the 125-year history of the company, started off in 2019. Between 2019 and 2022, we will come up with 30 new models and derivatives, out of which 10 will be electrified. So, we are ready when you are. The market has to be prepared for that. This is the absolute prerequisite. Without the supporting infrastructure, there’s no e-mobility. And now we can ask, what is first, the egg or the chicken? But we have to do it in parallel.Are you preparing ahead for India 3.0 and maybe 4.0?Yeah, after two comes three (smiles). But I really would beg your pardon, let's do the first step first and then the second one. I can really assure you that we have a lot of arrows in our quiver, and all of them should hit the sweet spot of the market.How hard is it to operate in India considering the number of regulations that have come into force in the vehicle market over the last few years?We are working in 103 markets worldwide and, yes, there are different regulations and it is not an easy task to cope with all of them at the same time. However, what is really important, for not only Skoda but also for the entire automotive industry, is that we have predictable outcomes of legislations. It is very difficult for us to cope with new rules when they are about to be set up in two years’ time. This is by far too less a time period to really adapt to the market needs.

from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2SiyTRN