Indian Autos blog

Finally the day has come when VW has unveiled the 5-door version of the popular budget car – Up!; Not that you should be surprised because you saw it before much thanks to SRK’s renderings. The VW Up! made its debut at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show in a three door version.

The five-door Volkswagen Up! has the same dimensions as the three-door version. So the wheelbase is the same 2.42 m along with the 251-liter boot.

The VW Passat, more famously known as the car that can park itself, was launched in India in March last year. Loaded with technology to the brim and coupled with the brilliant Audi A4 Mk5 Golf platform, the Passat has consistently mopped three digit orders since the launch month after month.

The new Passat looked like it was a full redo but in truth it was a reskinned model with no changes to the skeleton.

However, an all new Passat is due in 2014 and we are watching the developments with hawk eyes.

You’d have to be the Almighty’s most favorite child and the world’s most passionate petrolhead to come back the next birth to continue using your car. You need to have these two requisites to be considered for a re-entry.

Volkswagen India believes that this is possible and gives the Parsi community something to cheer about in its new commercial that we recommend you watch right now!

The philosophy of adding a boot to a hatchback is not new for India. Maruti-Suzuki did it with the Dzire and they were quite successful with it. In fact, the project was so successful that Maruti is planning to launch a second generation Dzire based on the new Swift with a much smaller boot. It is safe to say that in some cases the boot reflects the state of mind than a the need for additional storage space. Another such successful story is the VW Vento (essentially a stretched and booted Polo hatchback).

Now, the VW Vento is headed for Malaysia to repeat the successful story that it wrote in India. Paul Tan reports that a huge consignment of VW Ventos have landed on the Malaysian port and will be on sale shortly.

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VW plans to dominate the world by 2018 are surely on track with the company claiming to be the number 2 manufacturer of the world. According to Car Advice, VW sold 8.16 million units in 2011 whereas Toyota sold 7.9 million thus making VW the second biggest automotive company (by sales).

The total gain in sales amounts to a whopping 14.3-percent surge as compared to the auto giant’s 2010 sales.

The key growth markets were India and China. An impressive 2.25 million vehicles were shipped in China and deliveries in India more than doubled to 111,600 units.

There is surprise twist in the story as well. GM, predicted to be the numero uno manufacturer of 2011, has not yet declared its sales figures. If GM does not manage to shift more than 8.16 million, the VW’s goal would be accomplished 6 years early.

VW plans to be #1 manufacturer of the world by 2018 by shifting over 10 million units annually.

The Volkswagen Up! may have disappointed fans of German engineering by giving the Auto Expo a miss, but here’s medicine to help them move on – sketches of the five-door version of the Up! have been leaked. It’s not a top secret file as VW showcased a concept five-door at the Frankfurt Motor Show with flared wheel arches and fitments.

The three-door Up! is penetrating Europe and UK in a handful of variants such as Take Up!, Move Up!, High Up!, etc. These markets get a 1L petrol engine in two outputs paired to a five-speed manual transmission.

The production model does not have contrasting differences and the minor changes to the bumpers and tail lights featuring a more practical design were expected to turn up during the transition from concept to production. These changes keep costs in check, mighty important considering this is Volkswagen’s cheapest offering.

The Up! in the five-door form bows in at Frankfurt this year (or earlier) and thereafter heads straight for the Indian market. The model allows further capacity utilization at the VW Group’s production facility in Chakan, Pune. The Polo’s 1.2-liter diesel engine is hugely important if the current customer behaviour prevails.

So where is the price going to start? We think this is the ideal vehicle to challenge Maruti in its own game. If Volkswagen can price it similarly to the Beat, they have another Polo in their hands.

Update – Volkswagen India have just written to us outlining the specifications of this car. The accessorized Polo “is for display only.”

Technical specifications

Engine – 1,6l 77kW MPI
Gearbox – MT
Paint finish – Flash Red
Interior trim – Cloth “Livon” Seashell
Wheels – 15 inch alloy

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The 2012 Auto Expo was dominated by SUVs, right from Premier Rio Multijet that got so many of the journalists talking, the Renault Duster that photographers went bananas over right to the Ford EcoSport which many still wrongly believe is a concept car!

It is predicted that India’s hunger for compact SUVs is supposed to surge in the coming years. Not to let one opportunity pass, VW has decided to launch an all-new SUV in India by 2013. This SUV might be their reaction to the forthcoming Ford EcoSport and Renault Duster.

Skoda India, which is owned by VW, has been entrusted the responsibility of developing this mystery SUV. The Czech car company has managed to nab 1,000+ orders of the Rapid consistently since its launch.

Skoda Auto Member of the Board (Sales and Marketing) Jurgen Stackmann -

The VW group is adding one more production line at the Aurangabad plant for rolling out a new SUV by 2013. We will also announce a new investment for this purpose.

Skoda is said to be working on expanding the Yeti banner to 5 seater and 7 seater models for the next generation. The SUV in question could be one of these two models or the highly talked about Tiguan to challenge the Fortuner and X1.

One thing for sure, the product will be sold under both VW and Skoda’s banner.