Auto maker on course to achieve 10 percent market share in India's luxury car market in three years; 15 percent by 2020
Tomas Ernberg
Age: 43
Designation: Managing director, Volvo Auto India
Career: Has been with Volvo throughout, for over 20 years
Education: Bachelors degree in economics, Middle East Technical University, Turkey
Interests: Tennis
Buoyed by the increase in luxury spending by a section of India’s growing affluent middle class, Chinese auto manufacturer Geely-owned Swedish carmaker Volvo Car Group is targeting a 10 percent market share in India’s luxury car segment in the next three years. Volvo Cars, which has a market share of 3.5 percent in the Indian luxury car space--dominated by German majors such as Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW--is confident of strengthening its foothold in the country. Tomas Ernberg, managing director, Volvo Auto India, says it is on track to achieve the target. Excerpts:
Q. What are your views on the progress made by Volvo Cars in the Indian market? How has the growth been so far?
We are quite optimistic about our progress. The demand for Indian luxury goods, including luxury cars, has increased tremendously. From Volvo’s point of view, we have been among the fastest-growing luxury car brand in India for the last three years. Despite growing at a fast rate, the Indian luxury market remains very small. However, it is expected to grow phenomenally in the coming years. The future is bright for us. Currently, Volvo Cars has a 3.5 percent share in the Indian luxury car market. Three years ago, it was less than one percent. We are aiming to achieve 10 percent share by 2018, and a 15 percent market share by 2020.
Q. Are you focusing on any particular market in India? What is your strategy to boost sales volumes?
We have a lot of creative ideas on how to strengthen our foothold in India and boost sales volumes. We first try to understand our customers, the kind of businesses they are into and the hobbies that they have. Then we focus on various touch points to bring them closer to the brand. We began with Hyderabad as a test market and we have more touch points there than anywhere in India. We showcase ourselves at high-end restaurants and clubs where we are most likely to find high net worth individuals; we make them see Volvo around them. We are gradually replicating in other cities what we have learnt from Hyderabad. We are still not present in Jaipur, Udaipur, Vijayawada, Madurai and Bhubaneswar. These are some markets that we are looking at. We will tap them one by one. This year, we entered Surat and we will be opening in Kolkata next month. We are also looking at covering Baroda, Rajkot and the rest of Gujarat. We plan to enhance our product portfolio as well as service network to achieve the desired results.
(This story appears in the 01 May, 2015 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)