The sales of Reno, Volkswagen and Skoda decreased in India, these reasons came to the fore

Updated: 22-06-2025, 09.02 AM

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Veteran European car manufacturer Reno, Volkswagen and Skoda are facing difficulties in expanding their presence in the Indian market. The data of Jato Dynamics suggests that the sales of these companies have seen a decline in the last 3 financial years. It is being given many reasons behind this behind the SUV segment, delay in updating models, lack of dealerships in small cities and Indian tax structure.

Such are 3 financial year sales figures

According to data, Reno’s sales have recorded the biggest decline. It fell from 78,926 to 2023-24 of FY 2022-23 to 45,439 and reached 37,900 in 2024-25. Skoda sales also rose to 44,522 in 2023-24 as compared to 52,269 sales of 2022-23, but increased slightly to 44,866 in 2024-25. Volkswagen sales declined from 43,197 of 2023-24 to 2024-25 to 42,230, as compared to 41,263 in 2022-23.

SUV segment

Did not pay attention in SUV segment

Jato Dynamics President Ravi Bhatia Pti “Reno, Skoda and Volkswagen faced many challenges in India,” told. He said that these companies initially focused more on sedan cars like Vento, Rapid and Skala, which limited their reach to the rapidly growing SUV segment. Apart from this, these companies were slow in updating existing models. Many models remained unchanged for a long time.

Companies’ sales network is limited

The report also stated the reason for the network to be limited to the decline in sales, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets, which has limited access to broad customers. The troubles of these brands also include India’s tax structure, where sub-4-meter trains get the benefit of low fee. This benefited Japanese and Korean companies, which are known for affordable compact cars, while these companies make large models.

Ignoring other engine options

The chairman of Jato Dynamics also stated that companies such as Tata, Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki have helped to achieve market share by early adopting alternative fuel engines such as high localization, frequent model launch and alternative fuel engines such as CNG, Hybrid and Electric. European companies on the other hand have lagged behind in electric and hybrid offers. He said that there are signs of recently benefited from SUV Keelak launched by Skoda.