Most Awaited Car of the year- Volkswagen Polo to start from Rs. 4.34 lakh !

Volkswagen launched its premium hatchback Polo in India on Tuesday.

Bookings have opened and the deliveries would begin from March 8. The car will be made available by the 40 Volkswagen dealers in the country. The ex-showroom (New Delhi) price of a 1.2 litre petrol variant is Rs 4.34 lakh and the high-end diesel variant Rs 6.70 lakh.

Mr Neeraj Garg, Member of Board and Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, said, “ It is for the first time that we are entering the volume segment and we hope that Polo will be the major growth driver for us. Our aim is to capture 8-10 per cent of the market in 3-4 years.”

The first Polo from VW's Chakan plant rolled out in December 2009. It was unveiled at the Delhi Auto Expo in January. The annual production capacity at Chakan is 1,10,000 units.

Polo has added to the competition in the high-end compact segment which includes Hyundai i10, i20, Maruti Swift, A-Star and Ritz, apart from Fiat's Grande Punto and Skoda Fabia. This category is the fastest growing segment which grew 55 per cent at 2,25,000 units so far in this fiscal. “We think it will grow even faster. And, we will garner a fair share,” Mr Garg said.

Asked about production and sales targets for Polo, he said that the company's entire focus was on the domestic market and there would be no production constraints. “We will serve as much as the market can absorb.” The Polo is priced below the Skoda Fabia, a hatchback from Volkswagen's group company Skoda Auto India. The Fabia starts at Rs 4.92 lakh and goes up to Rs 7.71 lakh. There was speculation in the market as to whether the Polo would be positioned above or below the Fabia, as worldover the VW is a premium brand compared to the Skoda. Ford India will shortly launch its hatchback Figo, adding to competition in the segment, which will intensify further once Nissan launches its hatchback in May.

Volkswagen will launch a new sedan in the second half of the calendar year.

Posted in: Volkswagen