The India division of Volkswagen-owned Audi stated on Friday that any prospective reduction in import duties on electric vehicles (EVs) would allow the German automaker to experiment more with models and pricing in the third-largest auto market in the world. The CEO of Audi India, Balbir Singh Dhillon, told Reuters on the occasion of a showroom launch in Bengaluru, “If we get a window of three to five years where the government is able to reduce the duties, it will let us experiment with what models make sense for India and help in terms of pricing points.”
The Indian government is developing a new EV policy that will lower import duties for manufacturers who commit to some local manufacturing, according to a Reuters report from last month.
Dhillon claimed that the German parent and the India branch were in negotiations about starting to assemble “some” of the German company’s electric cars locally, but he would not elaborate on the timing or possible models.
Audi is attempting to catch up to its rivals, Mercedes and BMW, in the switch to electric vehicles. Currently, only the internal combustion engines utilised in the company’s petrol cars are produced locally by its India-based division.
The government will discuss with the sector and release a new strategy to draw more EV investments, India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal stated earlier in the week.