The Indian subsidiary of German luxury carmaker Audi today announced that its head of dealer development, Balbir Singh Dhillon, will replace Rahil Ansari as the head of Audi India from September 2019. Ansari will move to Audi's headquarter's in Germany, and assume the role of Senior Director, Central Sales Controlling (Global).
With over 23 years of experience in the automotive field and around 12 years with the Volkswagen Group, Dhillion will be responsible for reviving the luxury carmaker’s sales in India. Past two years have been challenging for Audi India. In 2018, sales fell 18 percent YoY to 6,463 units (2017: 7,876 units). It was the second consecutive year in which the brand struggled to find traction after being hit by the GST cess hike in 2017, when it posted two percent growth.
The carmaker attributed this drop in sales to the closure of its largest dealership, located in Delhi NCR, where it typically records maximum deliveries. Also, Audi India had fewer launches in 2018 as compared with its peers. It introduced Q5 petrol and diesel, RS5 Coupé and two special-edition models each, for the Q3 and Q7. But that is set to improve as Audi is now gearing up to launch the A6, A8 the Q8 and the all-electric e-tron in the next few months.
“Balbir has been a part of the Audi team in India and Middle-East and we are confident that he will take the brand forward in India even as market tries to buck external factors and grow,” Michael Frisch, Vice President Region Overseas AUDI AG said in a statement.
Dhillon has previously worked with Audi India between 2007 and 2012 as Head of Sales Field Force and has had stints at Audi Middle East, Porsche India and Honda India in his previous roles. He rejoined the carmaker in July 2018 and is responsible for Network Profitability and Business Planning in his current role.
from Autocar India - Cars https://ift.tt/2JDMY8m
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