Volkswagen India Marketing Strategy in India

By Anas .T

Volkswagen in German language means people’s car

Founded - 28 May 1937 Headquarters - Wolfsburg, GermanySlogan - Das Auto ("The Car")Area served - 153 countriesSubsidiaries - Audi, Bugatti, Bentley,

Lamborghini, Porsche, SEAT, Skoda and Scania CV

About Volkswagen India - Volkswagen entered the Indian

passenger car market in 2001 by launching its car brand - Skoda. In 2007, two of its other brands Audi and Volkswagen, were also launched in India.

Volkswagen Group India emphasized on all aspects of marketing mix including product, price, place and promotion.

Volkswagen Group India mainly focused to the luxury segment of the Indian car market.

Market study - 70% of passenger cars are small cars in India. The pricing needs to be within the competition. Need for changing its market strategy for

India. Majority of Indians did not know anything

about VolkswagenBrand awareness was 4% as compared to

competitor. India is an important market for Automobile

manufacturers. Indian automobile market is growing market.

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Challenges for VW in India - Produced premium cars with better

performance Skewed towards compact cars priority to economy

VW India’s Marketing strategies - Worlds first talking newspaper Volkswagen took advertising to a new level

with an innovative audio advertisement in newspaper.

On Tuesday September 21, 2010 as readers opened the newspaper a lightsensitive chip attached to the page announced the arrival of “a perfectly engineered car” – the Vento.

25 lakh readers of The Times of India and The Hindu were taken by surprise.

It cost VW 5 crore rupees.

Social media

VW India’s FB fan page has more than 17 million likes and Twitter page has more than 43,703 followers. Official YouTube channel for VW has 57 million subscribers worldwide. Broadcast numerous videos for promotion and brand awareness.

5 Ps of marketing - Product 21 different models under 3 brands.Produced at Chakan Plant,Pune..

PriceTargeted mainly for the luxury segment in the Indian market.Plan to capture bigger market by launching many new cars priced lower than 10 lakhs rupees

PlaceSignificant presence – Currently, the company has around 200 dealerships and outlets across major cities. Increasing the number of dealerships .

PromotionLaunched Integrated Marketing campaign

in November, 2009.Collaboration with DDB Mudra.Create consumer awareness of VW as a

brand. Innovative promotional campaigns – OOH,

print ads, TVCs.Print media – Communicating benefits.Television Commercials – Brand building.

PurposeBuilding brand image through innovative promotional campaigns.Earlier example – “think small” for Beetle in 50s.Core focus on luxury segments.Low cost VW Polo for targeting middle class.Achieve significant awareness of VW as a brand before launch of Polo.Showcase German engineering coupled with “Made in India” promise.

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