Lord of the rings: Audi India head Balbir Dhillon on 'simplest business'

The first Indian executive to head the German luxury carmaker in the subcontinent, Dhillon has worked his way up the ranks, writes Pavan Lall

His LinkedIn profile, which describes him as an optimist who specialises in innovation, digitalisation, people, driving and sports, could easily be of someone heading a new-age start-up. Except that Balbir Singh Dhillon is head of operations for Audi India, the premium car brand that is owned by the Volkswagen Group worldwide and goes head to head with the likes of Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. 

Unlike his predecessors, Dhillon is the first Indian executive to head Audi in the subcontinent, having succeeded the likes of Michael Perschke, Benoit Tiers, Joe King and Rahil Ansari (who is a German citizen of Indian origin). 

A mechanical engineer from Punjab Engineering College, he has worked his way up the ranks at home. His earlier stints included roles as Audi's regional sales manager, head of sales and network for Porsche India, sales director for Audi in West Asia, and head of Audi's dealership network. 

We are meeting on a rainy Mumbai afternoon at Asian restaurant Yauatcha, where he's pulled up in a midnight blue Q7 SUV. Dressed in a button-down shirt, blue blazer with pocket square and mocha brown leather shoes, Dhillon projects the understated elegance the four rings are best known for.

Before he joined Audi India as one of its first employees, he had stints at Larsen & Toubro (his first job); with tractor players TAFE and New Holland; a water treatment company; and then briefly at Honda Cars India. He would also jump to sister brand Porsche at the VW group and worked in Dubai, too, for a while. 

We settle down to order ginger beer, egg fried rice, Hakka noodles, chilli chicken, and prawn and chicken dumplings. 

The common strain that runs through Dhillon’s career is managing dealer networks and sales, and I ask him what the learnings were through all of that? 

"It’s actually one of the simplest businesses: sell vehicles and offer services afterwards,” he says. “So it's pretty easy, but it is built on a lot of trust and relationship. The selling bit is really the smallest part of it.” He explains, "You have to live the journey with customers over the lifecycle (of the car)." 

He adds that in the new digital world, unlearning everything that was done in the bricks-and-mortar world is one thing he is constantly exhorting his team to do. He elaborates. Earlier, the product was the be-all and end-all. Now it's a lot about experience, and service and brand engagement, which is changing supersets, he says, pulling out his phone to show a new loyalty programme that Audi has launched. It works like any similar programme, granting redeemable points to owners who spend money on Audi products or services. 

What is it like to be the first Indian head for Audi? "I've been with Audi for almost 14 years now, so I have seen it since its infancy here and know its process, systems and all," he says. "I joined at the bottom of the leadership pyramid as a regional sales manager, but it was also a dream to sit where I now do," he confesses. 

While Mercedes-Benz continues to lead the luxury pack in India with an array of models and aggressive launches, Audi has upped its game in the last couple years. In 2019, it logged sales of 4,594 units, which dipped to 1,639 in 2020 before bouncing back to 3,293 cars last year. In the first six months of this year, Audi has sold 1,765 cars, a jump of 49 per cent from last year in the same period.

Audi is first and foremost about listening, Dhillon, 50, says, referring to tuning in to what stakeholders, dealers, owners and partners have to say. Every customer, he says, is a brand ambassador and, therefore, has to be handled appropriately. Also because the cars cost quite a neat sum. "Our e-tron (Audi’s first electric SUV with high-speed charging, all-wheel drive), for example, mostly costs over ~1 crore," he says.

There's a buy-back policy for those cars, by the way, and the list of celebrities who are connected with it as endorsers, drivers or buyers includes cricketers like Virat Kohli and those from the world of cinema (Karan Johar, Gauri Khan, Twinkle Khanna and Mahesh Babu). In India, Audi is the leader in the luxury electric vehicle (EV) segment, with sales that are easily in the "triple digits," he says.

This year, the German luxury automaker completes 15 years in the country. To celebrate, Audi India has introduced a warranty coverage for five years with unlimited mileage for all its cars sold this year, starting June 1. It is a segment-first initiative for its customers. 

Our food has arrived. The rice is on the spot, flavourful and cooked just right, but the noodles and chicken are just about satisfactory. The service, however, has been attentive and prompt, which is always welcome during a busy work-day. While Yauatcha is a trendy joint and a favourite with bankers and the corporate crowd, there are no recognisable faces to be seen today.

I notice Dhillon going easy on the food. "I eat to live not the other way around," he says by way of explaining how his relentless travel schedule (he’s on the road at least 10 days a month) demands he be disciplined about his diet. 

He is also disciplined about keeping up with the times, reading voraciously about the economy, the stock market, crypto assets, macro-economic trends and so on. "I did a finance course from IIM-Lucknow and that helped me get a handle on some of this." When he is not working, he is road-tripping between towns in Europe.

Our dumplings are mostly demolished, thanks to me, and while Dhillon has toyed with the rice, noodles and chicken, he's hardly eaten. 

It’s not easy for luxury car-makers in India to generate high volumes given the excessive layers of duty that make them at least twice more expensive than what you’d pay for them in developed markets such as the US and Europe. Having operated in this market of challenges all these years, Dhillon is aware of this and focused on building trust.

So what's his mantra in life? "It is about working hard and being honest…. You always get what you deserve; it might take time, but it happens," says Audi’s first homegrown chief from experience.