Audi India is considering local manufacturing of a battery electric vehicle (BEV), as the company aims to increase its market share in the segment to 15%-16% over the next three to five years, a senior company executive said.

In an interview with media sources, Audi India Brand Director Balbir Singh Dhillon outlined the company's strategy for India, which focuses on three areas: customer centricity, new product introductions and network expansion. The strategy aims to increase Audi's market share in the luxury car segment from around 8% to 15%-16%.

The German automaker is also considering using the proposed India-EU free trade agreement (FTA) to introduce more models in India and assess market demand, while expanding its dealership network, particularly in tier-II and tier-III cities.

"We are contemplating a locally made BEV electric car with a decision expected in the next couple of months," Dhillon said.

Explaining the strategy, he said, "So we intend to double our market share in the next three to five years. Customer centricity, new products, and network expansion-put together, we believe should give us doubling of our market share in the next three to five years."

The proposed India-EU FTA could enable Audi to introduce more models in India at lower import duty rates and assess their sales potential before considering local manufacturing, Dhillon said.

"The FTA will help us bring more models to India for testing the volumes," he said.

Dhillon said the company would continue to rely on local manufacturing for its core portfolio, while imports could expand the range of vehicles available to Indian customers.

He also discussed the potential for the proposed India-EU FTA to create export opportunities for the wider Indian automotive industry.

"We will also get an opportunity to export the car, not Audi per se, but the Indian automotive industry, and you know we are opening up 95% of the markets on both sides."

Audi plans to focus most of its dealership network expansion over the coming year on tier-II and tier-III cities. This will involve entering new towns and converting some existing facilities into new-car showrooms.

"So most of the development that we will do in the next year to increase our network will be in tier-two and tier-three cities. We will enter new towns... We will convert some of our facilities, which already are there, into new car showrooms," Dhillon said.