The brand, the superior technology and the variety – Every thing that a successful automaker should have, the Volkswagen group has. But, still the company has not been able to instill that confidence in the minds of the customers. Perhaps, it failed to offer more features and compete agressively with its rivals. The result has been a fall in the sales of the company. The figures are huge and alarming. The sales fell by 16 percent whereas the production slumped 30 percent. The company has big plans to grap a good 8-10 percent of the market share by 2014-15. But if this slump in sales goes unchecked, the plans can become a distant dream for the company.
The company has had some more bad news as the topmost marketing team of the company has called it a quit now. Reasons, as in the air, are that the decision to put down papers was taken due to the underperforming sales. Neeraj Garg, Director and Member of Volkswagen’s passenger cars division, has decided to quit. Sources say, he was even offered a promotion and a posting in China, but the same were refused by him. Another top shot, Sandeep Mandrekar, the head of sales for India and the second-in-command in the sales and marketing division has also decided to end his tenure with the company. Perhaps the reasons that have been quoted are different and the same were that the duo are looking for opportunities outside the company.
Handling the situation, Volkswagen India, has already decided to recuit the new members for these posts. The company is trying to poach employees from its domestic rivals, Maruti. They have approached Mr. Shashank Srivastava, who is currently the CGM (Marketing) at Maruti Suzuki, to replace Mr. Garg, while Mr. Mandrekar’s post has been offered to Mr. Pankaj Sharma, currently GM in Maruti’s True Value business. Mr. Sharma has already confirmed his resignation at Maruti and has said that soon he would be joining the Volkswagen Group.
For the Indian Market, Volkswagen sells brands like Vento, Jetta, Polo, Beetle, Passat and Pheaton. The strong advantage the company has right now is that all its offerings come under the diesel segment, and as we know that the customers are giving preference to the diesel vehicles now due to the cheaper cost of the fuel, a strong communication would help the company to ramp up its sales. Will the new team help the company to achieve the 10 percent market share by the set deadline? Let’s wait and watch.
Source – Economic Times