Spied - Locally manufactured LHD VW Polo caught testing Pune

15/03/2013 - 14:26 | ,  ,   | Nithyanandh K

VW Polo LHD spied in IndiaThe VW Polo sedan a.k.a. Vento is being exported to some of the LHD (Left Hand Drive) markets from VW India's Chakan plant.

So far, VW India's LHD export operations were restricted only to the Polo sedan but now the Polo hatchback is also set to be added to the list. The chaps at Motorbash.com caught the first LHD test mule of the Polo doing rounds in Pune.

There is no clarity about the target markets for the made-in-India LHD polo, we reckon that the Polo hatchback could be exported to the same countries as the Polo sedan. The made-in-India Polo sedan is performing well in the Middle East and in fact was a contributor to VW Middle East's outstanding growth in 2012.

Coming to the engine options of the export spec Polo hatchback, it is unlikely that the India spec three cylinder diesel engine would be considered as majority of the export volume would be petrol engined vehicles. It is to be noted that VW India is planing to launch the more powerful Polo 1.2 TSI and Polo 1.6 GTD versions in the domestic market, according to some media reports. We suspect that these variants would be exported as well.

The export strategy would enable VW India to improve the production scale and to keep their assembly lines busy without piling up inventory due to the general slowdown observed in the Indian auto market.

[Source: Motorbash.com]

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