Volkswagen to invest Rs 7,900 crore in India

New Delhi:German auto major Volkswagen Group announced investment of 1 billion euro (around Rs 7,900 crore) between 2019 and 2021 as part of its latest strategy to enhance presence in India which will be led by group firm Skoda Auto.
As part of ‘India 2.0’ project, Skoda Auto is setting up an engineering design and development centre at Pune besides enhancing capacities at the group’s two plants at Aurangabad and Pune. The group will launch a new SUV based on VW’s flexible MQB platform by the second half of 2020.
The group has set a target of capturing 5% of the Indian passenger vehicles market by 2025. “We are now investing up to 1 billion euro by 2020-21. This is the biggest investment which we have done in one single market. This is the first and most decisive step,” Skoda Auto CEO Bernhard Maier said.
On the R&D centre, he said:”It will be ready by the end of the year…we plan to hire 200-250 engineers to develop cars in India.” The group is looking to create up to 5,000 direct and indirect jobs through setting up of the engineering centre and creation of additional capacities in the two plants. “We want to exploit the maximum of our current capacities in Pune and Aurangabad,” he said.