Indian Autos blog

The Volkswagen Polo is making headline news around the world as it finished 2011 as the second best selling vehicle in Europe. You must have already guessed the best selling vehicle, its without doubt the Polo’s elder sibling Golf that India unfortunately doesn’t have in its lineup.

The Golf has yet again proved that practicality tied together with fun can lead to impressive results. VW India has been spied testing the Golf in Pune but once told IAB that for its price, Indian customer is looking for a sedan.

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!

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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Last month Volkswagen supplemented a new variant to the Austrian arsenal using the Polo carline dubbed ‘Polo Sky’

Featuring sunroof (the reason behind the variant name), automatic climate control, 15-inch alloy wheels, rain sensor, gray center console finish and ‘Livon’ upholstery, the Polo Sky receives attractive daytime running LED lights to its headlight assembly.

The Austrian market is a fortunate one as it gets the highly sought-after 1.2 TSI petrol engine making 104bhp and 1.6-liter TDI (from Vento) making 105bhp. The Indian market rates fuel efficiency higher over performance and Volkswagen has not brought down the high-end variants for the same reason.

The Polo is also not offered with 3-doors as rear seat accessibility is important for chauffeur-driven owners and rear seat travelers who are plenty even in lower segments.

Our good friends over at Anything-On-Wheels have published spy shots of two forthcoming Volkswagen products from the streets of Pune. The first image is of the Volkswagen Polo upgrade with steering-mounted audio controls. Could we see Volkswagen upgrade equipment on all variants?

Will Volkswagen provide a four-cylinder diesel engine displacing under 1,500cc along with these upgrades? A four cylinder engine promises to deliver superior performance compared to a naturally imbalanced three-cylinder. They can reserve the 1.2 TDI for the base model and use it across the Up range next year.

The second vehicle spotted is the new Touareg. The Volkswagen Touareg isn’t exactly a saucy SUV as the role of a family SUV is played by other vehicles in the VW family like the Audi Q7 and the Porsche Cayenne. The brand strength of Volkswagen is only a fraction of a Porsche or an Audi.

We hear that BlueMotion technology will make it to the upgraded Touareg, but a hybrid variant, due to the high price of the battery pack, may not be sold in India.

Will Volkswagen re-launch both the improved models during the festival season?

The Volkswagen Polo sedan was primarily for the Russia and India and it was said the company was studying similar markets for its introduction.

Apart from China, we now know Malaysia could be in that list as the new Passat and Vento were caught testing in Port Dickson. The Vento (known as Polo in Russia) is based on an extended Polo hatchback platform and comes with a pair of 1.6-liter engines.

Power-loving markets like China and Malaysia might gain access to the racy TSI engine from under the Polo’ hood.

Indian Autos Blog has learned that Volkswagen is averse to the idea of executing a sub-4 meter Vento even in the future as the customers in India believe “they have arrived” with the purchase of this German sedan. A sub 4-meter variant would dilute the Vento’s image.

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?