Designers in India

Leaving their offices, Škoda designers headed to India to get closer to the customers they design cars for. Armed with a deeper understanding of the country and its people, they will be able to design cars that are even more attractive to customers, and not just to customers in India.

19. 11. 2024 Škoda World

The Indian market is extremely important for Škoda and Volkswagen Group as a whole. Škoda runs the group’s activities in India and has two production plants here. It has already developed three vehicles tailored to Indian customers – the Kushaq SUV, the Slavia sedan and the new Kylaq.

Škoda designers meeting Indian students of design

Specialists in Mladá Boleslav are involved in developing vehicles for the Indian market alongside their Indian colleagues. And this also applies to design. This year’s trip by a large team of people from Škoda Design was intended to fill them with inspiration for future projects.

Instantly recognisable radiator grilles

The team, which included Škoda’s chief designer Oliver Stefani for part of the trip, visited three Indian cities: Pune, Mumbai and Bengaluru. The designers did more than just test Škodas during their travels through the cities and the Indian countryside. “We experienced all kinds of conditions on the road, smooth motorways, traffic jams and challenging country roads,” says interior designer Stanislav Sabo. "In the extreme traffic there, you get a proper understanding the role played by robust construction, but also the sensitivity of the car’s various sensors,” he adds.

Czech cars are already at home on India's roads.

In Mumbai, the designers visited the technical university, where they met local design students. Discussions with them revealed a positive perception of the uniform design of the radiator grille on Indian Škoda models, for example. While the models each have their own personality, they are also clearly identifiable as Škodas thanks to the grille, which helps the brand build its identity. Many other brands in India lack a similar unifying feature.

Country of contrasts

The team members generally agree that they were already sufficiently aware of the specifics of the Indian culture and market, as the Czech carmaker is keen on broadening horizons in this regard. “Even so, the opportunity to experience some things first-hand was very rewarding and opened our eyes in many ways,” says Caroline Liehr. “For example, we know that Indians are proud of their possessions, like when choosing a home, buying a car or at social events like weddings. But it was only the opportunity to see it ourselves that helped us understand in detail why it is important to them and what underlies this kind of desire to be visible,” adds her colleague Sabo.

Caroline Liehr, Andrej Denysko, Stanislav Sabo, Marko Jevtic, Boris Kovalík and Viktor Filipchenko – designers from various Škoda Design departments who headed to India to learn all about their customers.

The participants agree that the trip confirmed to them that India is a country full of contrasts, but also a country with enormous potential and an extremely positive culture. “While people in India enjoy their possessions, the nature of the society actually prevents them from being envious,” Sabo mentions an interesting observation. “There is a rare respect among the people there,” Caroline Liehr believes. She also mentions people’s desire to stick together and their constant need to be in touch with loved ones and friends.

The aim of the trip to India was to get a better understanding of the local market’s specific features.

“I think we’re already on the right track in India, but our mission definitely helped us to understand some details that we can translate into our models for the local market in the near future. All of our insights and notes from the trip will be useful to us. They are already showing up in the first sketches,” Caroline Liehr summarises.