Indian Autos blog

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.

When VW announced that it had acquired a 19.9% stake in Suzuki Motors, there was quite literary a stir in the market. Fresh after the Porsche buyout, everyone expected VW to take it slow. However, in its aim to become the number 1 automotive company in the world, VW did not want to leave any stone unturned.

However, we have hardly seen any magic from the JV. Earlier, rumors were buzzing that VW will re-work the Suzuki A-Star and will make its own entry level hatchback. However, as we reported earlier, those plans have been scraped.

Later, the Maruti Suzuki SX4 was launched with a Fiat Multijet. Then the news came, Maruti Suzuki will be deploying the same Fiat Multijet Diesel for the 2011 Swift and Swift Dzire. Clearly, VW TDi engines either proved to be too expensive to procure or had higher maintenance cost. Furthermore, at the high level meeting, the bosses of both companies also discussed the possibility of Fiat subsidiary Magneti Marelli supplying Suzuki in India with an automated manual transmission system.

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Volkswagen continues to stay among the numbers as it sold 6,185 vehicles last month, a growth of 244 percent over 1,796 vehicles sold in May 2010. Back in May 2010, the company was surprised with the emotions and reactions of India to the Polo, the first affordable German car. The Vento wasn’t born then, and older Passat was a forgotten car playing second fiddle in the VW Group to Skoda’ elegant Superb.

The Polo and the Vento have been the backbone for the brand’ consistent growth in the last one year with a total of 5,889 units sold in May 2011. Based on the spyshots aired by Motorbeam, we concluded that the Polo’s receiving feature upgrade, and the 1.4-liter Polo sedan sold in South Africa can also be expected in India.

If these two variants join the local lineup, chances are that more numbers will be recorded. The cheaper Vento is almost certain to draw more inquiries. VW also manages to sell 184 units of the Passat BlueMotion which was a regular feature during the IPL cricket games, doing a world of good to its popularity.

With the introduction of models like the new Touareg and new Jetta, the numbers are surely heading north for VW in 2011.

Most manufacturers such as Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra, Hyundai, Mercedes Benz etc have a pre-owned car business up their sleeves which contributes to a significant portion of their revenues. Now, Volkswagen will also start selling pre-owned cars at dealerships from 2012. Volkswagen Finance India Board’s Chairman Joern Achim Kurzrock – We feel demand for pre-owned cars is good in the Indian market and we want to bank on the opportunity. India  [ Read More ]

Volkswagen India’s celebrating on reaching the milestone of 50,000 cars at its Chakan production facility in less than two years of its inauguration. The milestone car was a white VW Vento that posed with members of the VW’s management and employees at the plant. VW Group manufactures three vehicles at Chakan – VW Polo, VW Vento and Skoda Fabia. Press Release Volkswagen India rolls out the 50,000th car from its  [ Read More ]

Volkswagen India has a very potent hatchback in its hands, the Polo. The Volkswagen Polo’s build quality matches cars that are several segments higher. The bold crisp look of the Polo and the VW badge has fetched a considerable amount of bookings despite its high price tag.

The Volkswagen Polo received a decent number of bookings and VW India is not able to meet the demand for the Polo. The Polo has a waiting period of 4 to 6 months currently and there are a number of customers who are growing impatient and canceling their bookings. That’s the saddest thing that can happen to a carmaker.

Volkswagen India has delivered 4,500 Polos so far and it has an order backlog of over 10,000 currently.

The Volkswagen Vento would be reaching showrooms by the end of this year and we feel the Vento (if priced well) could run off to become a huge success and get a large number of bookings. This could further add to Volkswagen’s woes as order backlogs would continue to increase leading to losing customers because of long waiting periods.

VW India could also delay the Vento’s launch till they clear the order backlog for the Polo sufficiently.

Neeraj Garg, Director, VW India -

Waiting period for the Polo is four-six months. Whatever commitments we make to the customer, we’ve been able to honour that. There have been few cancellations by customers, around 30 to 40 from time to time. Immediate ramp-up is definitely not possible right now, because our plans are made accordingly. There will be no change in the short-term. In case we continue to have similar order bookings, we will build much higher capacities as quality gets matured.

Waiting periods play a very crucial role in any car market especially in the Indian small car segment, where the competition is cut-throat severe. VW can’t afford to lose Polo customers to the Ford Figo or Chevrolet Beat just because it can’t ramp up production and deliver cars faster.

Ford India hit the bulls eye with the Figo which is dashing to the 25,000 bookings mark. Ford did the wise thing by adding a second shift for the Figo’s production. The company even began exports of the Figo to South Africa.

Has Volkswagen India bitten more than what it can chew with the Polo?

Volkwagen’s Brazilian arm would soon make airbags and ABS standard throughout its range. The latest entrant to the VW family, the Polo would come with airbags and ABS standard even in its Base variant. Base variants of the VW Cross Fox and Golf would also get these as standard.

However for India, the base variant Trendline does not come with airbags and ABS. Not only VW India, all the major players in the volume market do not offer airbags on the Base and Middle variants. Only few manufacturers offer Airbags and ABS on the top-end variants, while some offer them only as options.

The reason for this is that there are no strict guidelines set by the Indian Transport Authorities on standardized safety equipment in cars. The Brazilian government is taking strict measures to ensure the safety of vehicles sold in their country and they have fixed a deadline of 2014 for all carmakers to offer airbags and ABS as standard in all cars.

We would really wish to see such regulations in India so that carmakers do not take the Indian car buyer lightly and should move from offering ‘value for money’ products to offering safe, quality motoring to the Indians.

The Nissan Micra which is to be launched on July 14, has a driver side airbag standard, even on its base variant. This would go down the Indian history as the first small car to offer airbags as standard on the base variant.

We wish VW India would at least be offering airbags and ABS as standard even in the base variants of the VW Polo Sedan (Vento) which could be launched during Diwali.

Volkswagen India has started the pre-series production of its new small car – Polo at its new plant in Pune. The German Federal Minister for Economics, Labour and Transportation Dr. Philipp Rösler, visited the plant at Chakan in Maharashtra to start off the event.

The first body of the Polo took shape at the pre-series production, viz a pre-run/a trial to the official production of the Polo that will begin at the same plant this year end.