In an exclusive interview to CarWale.com, Paul de Voijs, managing director, Volvo Auto India talks about the silent existence of the brand and its dynamic future plans
Volvo has been present in India for some time now but still the brand remains unknown to many?
Volvo Auto is relatively still new to the market. Although, we had a Ford backing, Volvo always took its own decisions. We opened our first dealership in March 2008 in Chandigarh which makes us a very young player in the market and there is a strong reason why we haven’t made much noise in the Indian market till today. For any company to become a brand takes some time. Volvo might be a reckoned name outside India but here one has to start from scratch. We did not want to come to India and launch an ‘x’ amount of cars; idea was to go at a slower pace and make people get used to the brand. Exploding into the market with too much hype didn’t make sense to us. This is probably one of the reasons why people are not much aware about Volvo cars in India but we are now increasing the marketing and branding activities for the cars in India.
What kind of branding activities are being undertaken by Volvo?
The most successful branding exercise that paid off well for the company was the use of Volvo XC90 R-design in the movie 3 Idiots. When the ideation began we weren’t sure how successful the efforts would pay off. It was a big budget movie with Aamir Khan; will people take notice of a car in a movie, what if the movie fails to hit the jackpot at box office? There were so many questions but we decided to go ahead because the characters in the movie had a striking resemblance to the characteristics of the vehicle – vibrant, energetic and sporty. After having tasted success we have accelerated a few other plans, in fact, our advertising agency is working over time to chalk out some good campaigns.
What pole position do you foresee for yourself in the premium sedan market?
We are not in the number game; we haven’t decided that we have to sell ‘n’ number of cars in India by the end of this year or fiscal. When I was given the charge of India, I had told the company specifically not to expect any superficial results in the first few years. We want to make our foundations strong first which will help us to serve the Indian customers well. We could have entered India announcing a 10 dealership deal across India but we didn’t do that because managing the same would have been cumbersome and ultimately can lead to bad results, which is why people feel we are ‘aggressive’ enough.
The luxury sedan market in India is very niche and naive. How do you justify your entry to India and lying so low in marketing?
India is a country of hatchbacks and the luxury car segment is very small in India, I think around 0.5 per cent. But the potential that India has is tremendous. The recession in India is over, the standard of living has increased and there is surplus money to splurge. The economy too is growing at a good pace compared to world standards and this is what makes the country interesting.
The cars that will be launched in India, will that have the same specifications as your international launches?
Yes, very much. We do not believe in getting watered down versions for the Indian market nor any outgoing models. We do not want our Indian audience to feel any different than our international ones. The cars might come a little late to India but it would be what is available internationally. As a matter of fact, Volvo could have launched the S60 in India but we decided not to because it was phasing out internationally and was to be replaced with a newer version. We decided to launch only the new one here. That is our commitment to India.
You have worked in more than six countries. What difference do you find in the Indian market compared to others?
The Indian market is dynamic and growing. In fact, India has a striking resemblance to the Russian market. Like in Russia, in India too cars are associated with the status symbol. The better you do in life, the bigger the car will become which is primarily the main reason why weekend getaway cars didn’t do well here. A decade back the Russian market for luxury sedans was around 0.5% and now the market has grown to 5.5%, so I am hoping that the Indian luxury car market which is also around the same to grow to that level in the next few years.
Coming to the unveiling of the new S80, the car is priced very competitively at Rs38.79 lakhs considering the twin turbo engine that it sports? How will you cut a profit?
Yes, the pricing of the car has been kept at that level deliberately. We could have put a tag of Rs 45-50 lakh for the car but since we are here for long term, we wanted to provide as many features as possible at a reasonable price. At this price tag we will be taking a dig at our own pockets. We might also increase the price in a couple of months as this is an introductory offer. But yes the pricing have been kept at this level to attract customers.
Do you plan to have Volvo showrooms in the near future? How do you plan to interact with customers?
We do not have any plans in the immediate future. We have always been helped by the word of mouth publicity. People who bought our cars recommend us highly and it has helped us a lot in sales. As of now it’s just dealerships. We would soon be having dealership agreements in Bangalore, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Goa etc.
