#ShiftingGearsWithSwatiK: YOLO culture likely to spur demand in the luxury car segment, says Balbir Singh Dhillon, Audi India Head

Are you a businessman or a professional who wants to get out of your home to discover something new in the vicinity of the city in which you reside and that too in your luxury car? If yes, then there is good news for you! Audi is almost ready to launch a series of new models of its cars in India. These cars will be launched in the next few months. This was revealed by Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head, Audi India, during an exclusive interaction with Swati Khandelwal, Executive Editor, Zee Business. The chat was live on Zee Business Facebook page today at 8 pm.

Talking about the new way of working, Balbir said, life has not been easy in the last few months for anyone as we are going through extremely challenging times, but the challenge is the way to go. Life is not a straight line and you will always come across challenges, but there is a need to work positively. This was something that we were doing by engaging with the stakeholders whether it was the dealer partner, suppliers, teams at the dealerships or our own team. We are engaging at this point of time to show that we are standing shoulder to shoulder with each other to eventually come out of the situation even stronger.  

Asked about how he is mitigating the challenge, Balbir said, we have gone ‘Phygital’ – a combination of physical connection and digital – and trying to reach every customer in the way that is comfortable for them. 

Balbir revealed that customer centricity, digitalization, network and products are the four pillars of strength under its strategy 2025. 

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Talking about the three launches of the recent past, namely Audi A6, Audi Q8 and A8 L, Balbir said that customer response has been positive on these vehicles. The first lot of A8 L and Q8 has been sold out and A6 is doing extremely well. He added that going forward Audi has many products which are being planned right now and they are a combination of the sports-car and volume products. Over the next few months you will see products coming, one-by-one, that we want to bring to the country.  

About the new buy-pattern that may emerge in the post-COVID world, he said, none of us has any experience of what is going on at the present. According to Balbir, two situations can occur; one can be the cautious situation in which the buyers, who include MSME owners, CEOs, professionals like Chartered Accountants and doctors among others, who will go back to business and see whether things are getting back on track or not, which means the luxury cars sale may remain sluggish for next few months and then start. The second situation will belong to a culture called YOLO (You Live Only Once). This will be the positive side of the story. After going through this stressful time in the last few months, people may feel that if I can buy then why should I not invest it on myself and enjoy life. 

Balbir also feels that certain restrictions on international travel and holidaying can be seen in the future, which may inspire people to travel in India itself and perhaps they will move around the cities where they live – about 500-1,000 kilometres – with their families and in their cars. 

#ShiftingGearsWithSwatiK is a Zee Business exclusive series that has been created to reveal the extent of COVID-19 impact on the world’s leading auto brands, their pivot strategies in the New Normal and much beyond that.