In Conversation With Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head Of Audi India, About The Q7 And Audi’s Plans For The Future

Audi India had kicked off 2022 with the return of the Q7 after a long hiatus in a facelifted avatar as a petrol-only SUV. This comes off the back of an action-packed 2021 for the carmaker which featured a slew of launches as well as expanding its electric portfolio. We caught up with the head of Audi India, Balbir Singh Dhillon on the response to the Q7, and what the carmaker has planned for India in 2022 and beyond.

Ameya Dandekar: So the Q7 in itself has been like a brand ambassador for Audi. Now that it's back, do you expect a big demand for it?

Balbir: It is already. Since the time we opened bookings, there is very positive demand that we've seen from our customers across the country. So obviously, we're getting feedback from our dealer partners, and everybody's asking for more cars. And today, after we announced the price, my sales team is actually overwhelmed with the number of calls they're getting from the partners to give more cars. Of course, whatever number of cars we have available, immediately they will go. We hope we are able to get more cars, because these days, this is the situation that we are facing. The demand is actually much more than what we are able to do.

AD: How much were the customers actually inquiring because the Q7 had a huge market, right? Also, were they a little skeptical about the Q7 not getting a diesel or when will the highest spec Q7 arrive? Were there such questions from potential buyers?

Balbir: So if you remember, it's been almost two years since we had made this call that we will not bring in diesel technology to the country anymore and will focus primarily on petrol and electric cars. So I think the Q7 is coming after some time, but in between we also had five electric cars launched around that price point, not the same but on a higher side. So some of the customers have also moved to electric mobility.

But of course many customers have been waiting. Existing Q7 customers have been waiting, Q5, A6 customers have been waiting to upgrade to the Q7, and of course some customers who for the first time are buying an Audi are also waiting for this car. So far, it's a very positive trend that we've bought, and I'm sure that once the pricing is out, the introductory pricing, we will have much more demand because we recently sent the cars to the dealership for test drives. 

So normally you see in India customers test drives the car before they buy, and the test drives have just started a couple of days back. So with pricing and full information to the customers now out, I'm sure we will have much more positive news in the next few days.

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AD: It's great to hear that existing Audi owners want to stay in the family, right?

Balbir: Absolutely. Obviously, it is very heartening to see our existing customers upgrading to an Audi, that shows the strength of the brand that shows the loyalty of the customers, the products and the services that we offer and the customers are happy with them. It's a testimony to our deeds I would say when a customer upgrades to a second, third or fourth Audi in their lifetimes.

AD: On the question of you saying two years back, Audi announced that we are going to be petrol only and electrification, which is a very hot topic right now. So Audi announced a very ambitious plan that by post 2025 or 26, only EVs will be launched. How do you see that playing out in India?

Balbir: So, we are one of the only manufacturers right now, who is offering five electric cars in India, not just in the luxury segment, but in general. I would say in the automotive industry, nobody else is offering these many choices to the customers. This shows our commitment towards electric mobility. And just to clarify, Audi will be a fully electric car company by 2033. 

Of course, there will not be any new development posts 2025, 2026, but whatever cars have been launched, the next generation of cars will come around 2025-26, ICE next generation cars and we’ll continue to serve those cars for seven to eight years. Eventually 2033 is when it will be fully electric and we will not be selling any ICE engine parts. I think we are still about 11-12 years away from that time, but our own  aspiration is to sell 15 percent electric cars by the year 2025. So that we are on that strategy. I'm sure with the current range of cars that will not be possible, we will bring more electric cars into the portfolio, and just wait for some more announcements in next months, weeks, and years from our side.

AD: And also, to meet the target, local assembly of EVs also is going to be critical, right? So how close are you to that?

Balbir: To be honest, what we’ve planned right now is keeping in mind the current, let's say duty structures. But if we are able to, somehow be able to request and convince the government to give us a window of three to five years to reduce the import duties, I think we should be able to reach some threshold earlier than we would otherwise. This will help us convince our headquarters to make further investments into the country for electric mobility because it will warrant major investments once again.

AD: My next question is going to be the Q4 e-tron, we're really excited to see that come to India. Is that on the cards for 2022 by any chance?

Balbir: So as of now, normally, we don't share about any future products, I wouldn't be able to comment there. But whatever is available globally, whatever makes sense, in terms of business case, we are always evaluating on a regular basis. Actually, the demand for that car globally is much more than we are able to produce globally. So there are many angles that we need to look at.

AD: Going back to 2017, Audi sold nearly 8000 cars. 2020 obviously because of the pandemic was a bad year. But in 2021, it was 3000 units sold. So it was double of 2020, which was a great, great jump. So when do you expect to see 2017 levels of sales again?

Balbir: So the specific numbers I will not speak about, but I'll give you some perspective from our side. So when we decided to move towards electric cars, and ICE petrol cars, obviously, it was a tough decision because like India's luxury segment still is 70-80 percent diesel. So it takes time for the whole system to get adjusted, and for our own selves to get adjusted. And all of that all our cars needed homologation, so we needed to do all that cycle completely. Unfortunately, the pandemic came on top, and it delayed the whole process of getting these cars. But I'm happy that we have got most of our products back in action now with the introduction of Q7. 

We launched nine products last year of which five were electric cars and they will be available throughout this year. So with this availability, I am sure we will do well, and I'm expecting good double digit growth this year as well. For me, the most important thing is happy, satisfied and loyal customers and a sustainable business case for our dealer partners and for us as well. 

The numbers are just a byproduct of all these things. But the way things are right now, if you look mathematically with the full 12 months availability of all the products that we have today, it can clearly be seen that we will have good growth this year. How much it is will just be an outcome and we will keep on sharing on a regular basis, but the focus is very clearly on our strategy 2025 which is stationed on four pillars: human centricity, network, digitalization and production services. So these are all focus areas for us, and volumes will just follow.

AD: Okay, now that we know the idea of Audi’s way forward in terms of electrification or ICE vehicles, for that matter, what about plug-in-hybrids? I know you must have got this question quite a bit about the A6 50 TFSIe, basically your choice of different powertrains is limited especially in the Q7 for example. You just get a 3-litre turbo petrol right. So, when can we expect more powertrain options for your cars?

Balbir: So this question actually needs a little extension of the question itself, because you have to look at the whole luxury segment before I can answer this question. The luxury segment is a tiny little segment in India, just about one one and a half percent of the number of cars sold in India. So when you sell cars, you have to service them, you have to live with those cars for 10 to 15 years. We have to service those cars. So whenever we introduce any car, we commit ourselves to serve those cars for all these years. So it is important that we bring in as many products as possible, but we also kind of keep the whole portfolio as simple as possible. 

So these are complex topics you know, I don't want to bring cars where we sell 100 cars in the country and then let's say, struggle to service them over a period of time. We need to sustainably sell them all these years and then eventually try and bring as many options as possible to the customer. So at this point in time, whatever engines are available, that's how it will remain. I just very clearly want to focus on getting more cars than more engines, and we have engines starting from 2-litre to 4-litre TFSI. So there is a 2-litre that is 2.9-litre, there is 3-litre and there is 4-litre, so four engines are available in different car segments for us in India. 

At the same time, you also have electric mobility available in e-tron and e-tron GT,  e-tron 50, e-tron 55. So there is a wide range of choices available to the customers right now. I am sure we are not able to satisfy each and every customer, I was speaking to somebody else a few hours back and there was a lot of asking for the RS3. So there are these demands that sometimes you're not able to get into, but primarily keeping in mind that we want to also want to maintain a reasonable model portfolio which we are able to sell for their lifetime.

AD: My last question is a little broad. Basically, safety technology is moving rapidly in the mass market space. So, do you see these features like ADAS for example, as the obvious standard fitment in future Audis for India or as an option at least?

Balbir: We are looking at all these features,a very pertinent question that you've asked. Going forward, we will continue to evolve. At this point in time, we are also working with our headquarters to get more such features, so this is definitely on the cards and we will look into this. You will see that maybe not immediately, maybe next year with the next generation of cars or with next model year changes, whatever makes a practical sense for the country. 

Because there are features which are good to have, but let's say the facility is limited. So we have to also keep in mind the costs. Everything comes at a cost, there is nothing free. So the more features you add, the cars become more expensive, and these features are not used 90- 95 percent of the time. There is no point having them, but constantly we ask our customers, people who are enthusiastic about cars or journalists what makes sense. So it's like we evolve some things, we drop some features but it's a constant exercise regularly.

AD: And actually it also makes sense, especially with ADAS features to tune them for Indian conditions, because internationally, they work well but for India you know how our driving environments are. So generally we have seen that they become too intrusive sometimes. So maybe I don't know if that can be worked on.

Balbir: Precisely. I think you answered yourself. Yeah.