German premium car manufacturer, Audi recently undertook a recruitment drive, as it aims on hiring 600 employees in a span of two years time. This move comes as the company introduces a series of products in the market as well as their national expansion in India.
The head of Audi India, Michael Perschke, was quoted as saying that at the company they are following an aggressive strategy of expansion this year as they launch class defining cars and strengthen their dealer network in metros as well as in tier II and II Indian cities. It is important for them to have a presence wherever their customer is, therefore in keeping this commitment; they have already opened 13 dealer outlets pan India.
This year, they plan to increase their dealer outlets to 18, which will extend to new markets such as Lucknow, Indore and Coimbatore to name a few. In regards to this expansion, they will also be getting skilled talent for three different levels, which includes production, dealership and corporate. They have the strong belief that competent workforces that foster and exhibit the sophisticated, sporty and progressive valued of the brand, form a major contribution for their profitable growth, helping them achieve a lead position in India’s premium car segment. This move will also reiterate their commitment to be part of the growth story in India.
Audi India currently produces the Audi Q5 and A4, as well as the recently announced production of their new A6 in Aurangabad. Michael further added that they currently have around 200 personnel who work on the company’s production lines as well as envisage increasing their employee strength a 100% in a span of two years.
The new A6 that will soon hit Indian roads will be manufactured in 16 different work cycles at one of the production line in their facility in Aurangabad securing 126 working places for the following couple of years. He also added that globally, the company announced plans of taking in an additional 10,000 workers in the following couple of years. The company will be increasing their workforce to 70,000 workers from 60,000 workers by the decade end.
Apart from 782 apprentices, the company will also hire an approx. 500 experts as well as entry level workers in Germany in 2011, along with an investment of more than 11bn Euros by 2015. He said that the Indian luxury auto industry is poised to take a great leap, and it is their constant endeavor of creating a talent pool that will help this industry in accomplishing a global excellence at the local level.
The company will also announce about their collaboration with the INDIA Future of Change for featuring various contests revolving around multi-disciplinary for students of premier design and business schools in India. These contests that will be held nationwide are unique attempts by the company to harvest and explore innovative solutions and ideas for the auto industry in India.
The company recently launched a new dealer outlet in Ludhiana. The company inaugurated dealer outlets in early 2011 in Delhi and Chennai. Future cities include South Bombay, Surat, Lucknow, Indore, Delhi West and Coimbatore. The company also launched many class defining products this year, including the A8 L, R8 V10, R8 Spyder, A7 Sportback, RS5, Coupe, and the newly launched A6. Audi is the leading luxury car company in India, the fastest growing luxury car company in India and USA. Meanwhile, China is the company’s largest market, having overtaken the lead from Germany. The company is also in the middle of deploying a few of their proven strategies from the Chinese auto market to India, including strong process of brand building, network growth and product offensive.
