The first step will address topics such as the application of specific market knowledge as well as local development expertise. In the long term, the Volkswagen Group is looking to further expand its product portfolio in the fast-growing emerging markets.

Our aim with the envisaged strategic partnership with Tata Motors is to lay the foundations in the Group and the brands that will enable us to offer customer-oriented mobility solutions in the emerging, fast-growing automobile markets, as elsewhere. By offering the appropriate products we intend to achieve sustainable and profitable growth in very different parts of the world. That is why we are systematically pursuing our regional growth strategy.

—Matthias Müller, CEO of Volkswagen AG

We are delighted to announce our potential cooperation with Volkswagen Group and ŠKODA. We strongly believe that both the companies, by working together, can leverage from each other’s strengths to create synergies and develop smart innovative solutions for the Indian and overseas market. This is in alignment with Tata Motors efforts to make itself ‘FutuReady’ by embracing new technologies, fostering higher platform efficiency and offering solutions that connect with the aspirations of our customers.

—Günter Butschek, CEO and Managing Director of Tata Motors

The contractual framework and the guidelines for a strategic cooperation between the Volkswagen Group and Tata Motors Ltd. will be examined and defined in detail over the coming months. Until then, the parties have agreed not to disclose any information.

Tata Motors Limited is India’s largest automobile company, with consolidated revenues of US$41.6 billion in 2015-16. Through subsidiaries and associate companies, Tata Motors has operations in the UK, South Korea, Thailand, South Africa and Indonesia. Among them is Jaguar Land Rover, the business comprising the two iconic British brands. It also has an industrial joint venture with Fiat in India.

With more than 9 million Tata vehicles plying in India, Tata Motors is the country’s market leader in commercial vehicles and among the top in passenger vehicles. Tata cars, buses and trucks are being marketed in several countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, South East Asia, South America, Australia, CIS and Russia.

ŠKODA traces its history back to 1905, with the production of automobiles by Laurin & Klement Co. in what would become Czechoslovakia in 1918. ŠKODA became the fourth brand of the Volkswagen Group, alongside VW, Audi and SEAT, in 1991 via a joint venture. In 2000, it became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Group. Global ŠKODA sales reached 1.3 million cars in 2016.

The Volkswagen Group is one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers and the largest carmaker in Europe. The Group comprises twelve brands from seven European countries: Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, SEAT, ŠKODA, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Scania and MAN. The Group operates 120 production plants in 20 European countries and a further 11 countries in the Americas, Asia and Africa. The Volkswagen Group sells its vehicles in 153 countries.