Indian Autos blog

Are you the person who believes India pays more for a car than anyone else? Do you think Volkswagen is charging a premium for its models? Do you vouch for the thought that the Indian government is anti-motoring? This article may shatter many of those beliefs.

Malaysia will soon be able to treat itself to the cheapest Volkswagen sedan through the VW Vento.

Like Polo Driver aptly puts it the Polo sedan (Vento) is marketed as a grown-up car for grown-ups in South Africa. The latest two 30-second TV adverts feature thirty-something males who have moved on from their wild, adventurous days.

Voiceovers narrate their previous ‘incarnations’, exploits and younger selves, and the camera pans out to show the car gently. ‘Ready When You Are’ tagline might not be appropriate for India as we were not ready to let go of the marginally overpriced Honda City.

The Polo sedan comes with a smaller 1.4-liter petrol engine which India doesn’t get. Volkswagen’s ad for the Vento uses the emotionally-bonded factory workers finding it hard to let go of the assembled vehicle and sobbing as it rolls out of the factory gates here in India.

We would like to thank our reader Devprakash for these wonderful images!

Volkswagen India unveiled its Vento sedan on July 6th in New Delhi. The Volkswagen Vento which would be pitted against the Honda City, Fiat Linea, Ford Fiesta and the Hyundai Verna Transform, could be priced between 7.25 to 9 lakh Rupees. The Vento’s pricing is likely to be announced by the 1st week of August while the car could reach showrooms by October-December.

The Volkswagen Vento is the sedan version of the Polo hatchback (very obvious!) and the Polo’s wheelbase has been stretched by 96mm for the sedan. The Vento has been developed for developing markets like India and Russia.

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We discovered a video of the unveiling of the VW Polo sedan (Berlina, Vento) in Russia on You tube, which gives you a good idea about the vehicle’s looks in the absence of studio lighting. The video is not very old considering the Vento was launched officially on the 3rd of this month.

VW has unveiled the Polo sedan (Berlina, Vento) at Wolfsburg, Germany yesterday. The vehicle will go public after its debut at the Moscow motor show in August. VW is going to sell the Polo sedan to its Russian customers at US$12,800. It will be available with only one engine option which is the 1.6-liter petrol engine making 105bhp.

The engine will either be mated to a 5-speed manual transmission or a 6-speed tip-tronic transmission (Semi-automatic).

Indians however could get both the 1.6-liter diesel and petrol, details of which have been discussed here. VW has initiated trial production of Polo sedan at Chakan plant a few weeks ago and the car is expected to launch in India in the coming months.

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Vince Burlapp has posted images of an undisguised Polo sedan (VW Vento) inside what looks like a production line. The Polo sedan will reach VW showrooms in India within the next three to six months.

The Polo sedan will get the twin slab chrome grille from the hatchback. As the Indian Polo is marginally different compared to the European Polo, we are unsure if the bumper will have integrated slabs instead of the mesh that’s present on the hatch. The rendering posted by Autocar India had slabs in it, but that was only a sketch and not a photograph.

The wheelbase, slightly longer on the sedan, permits the rear seat passenger to stretch his legs. The rear seats will be be touch comfier. The addition of a boot and a 1.6-liter petrol-diesel combo under the hood will catapult the Polo into the territory of the Honda City.Perhaps the Honda City buyer, who misses a diesel badly, could opt in for the Vento.

There will also be considerable more equipment on board. The dashboard is no different compared to the hatchback. VW is adding a coat of shine to certain areas or is it just a protective layer of polythene?

Perhaps VW will add more variants after gauging the initial response of the Indian customer.

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Volkswagen has initiated trial production of the Polo sedan in Chakan. As per a report on Autocar India, the Polo sedan will be christened Vento and will be priced close to the Honda City.

The Polo sedan will merely not be a Polo with a boot. It will also have a slightly longer wheelbase with increased equipment. The vehicle will have split seats made out of higher quality cushion. Gadgets from the Jetta could appear on the Polo sedan, which will also be manufactured in places like Russia.

The VW Vento, according to the same report will come with two engine options – a petrol and a diesel. Both engines displace 1.6 litres and both produce 105bhp. However, the diesel makes 255Nm of torque while the petrol can only manage 158Nm.

When Indian Autos Blog contacted the company’s spokesperson Kurt Rippholz regarding this development, this is what he said -

We started trial production (of the Polo sedan) some weeks ago and series production (mass production) will begin in 3,4,5 or 6 (3 to 6) months time.

Will the Polo sedan manage to send the extremely popular Honda City running for cover when it comes out in the second half of 2010?

VW class B compact sedan definitely is the Polo sedan marked for India in H2 2010

Thanks to our friends in Caredge Russia, we’re able to bring you the first official sketch released in Russia of a new VW sedan, which to us is simply a ‘booted’ VW Polo hatchback. This model will be built in VW’s newly installed Pune facility which at present manufactures the Polo.

Our Russian is not at its peak, so with help from Google’s translation service we figured the design of the Polo sedan, spied recently, was penned by Walter De Silva who is credited with designing some of the modern VWs as well as the forthcoming VW Golf.

The VW Polo sedan will be launched in India in the second half of 2010, as per a statement issued by VW India’s board member Neeraj Garg to the press last year in October -

The hatchback version of Polo will be launched in H1 2010 while the sedan version will be introduced in the second- half. The Volkswagen Polo, which is undergoing testing at the moment, would have both petrol and diesel versions.

According to sources, the VW Polo sedan will be named after a kind of wind (breeze, gale, storm, hurricane or typhoon). It will be positioned in India to take on contenders like Honda City, Ford Fiesta and Hyundai Verna.

The website reports that an official presentation (we assume launch) will be held in the month of June 2010. The design of the Polo sedan, which will be built here in India by the end of next year, is very much based on the new generation Polos and Golfs.