VW India yesterday produced its 400,000th car at its Chakan facility located near Pune, Maharashtra. The milestone car was the refreshed Polo, which was launched just last week, with the new 1.5-liter four-cylinder diesel engine.
VW started making cars in India in March 2009. The Chakan plant makes the Polo, Vento and the Skoda Rapid currently. Apart from catering to domestic demand, the plant also exports cars to 32 markets spread across three continents. Some cars are exported as completely built units, and some are exported in the parts and components form. To list out a few, VW India made cars are sold in Mexico, Malaysia, Philippines, etc.
VW India's product lineup consists of the Polo, Vento, Jetta and Passat. While the Polo and Vento are manufactured at Chakan India, the Jetta and Passat are only assembled (at Skoda's Aurangabad facility) in India.
VW launched the refreshed Polo last week, and refreshes of the Polo GT TSI, GT TDI and Cross Polo will be available come September. The new Polo comes with a redesigned exterior and interior and a new 1.5-liter diesel engine which will also find its way to other group products from VW and Skoda. Going forward, a refreshed Vento is expected to launch by the end of this year.
Check out our review of the refreshed Polo 1.5 diesel here.
