With more and more manufacturers joining the sub-compact SUV space, Volkswagen and Skoda too will have their own offerings in this segment by 2022 under the India 3.0 Project. This space is getting more crowded than ever.
It is no doubt that the sub-compact SUV space is one of the most vibrant car segments in the country currently and almost every mainstream manufacturer wants a share of the pie. This segment came to be only a few years ago with the Ford Ecosport and then others joined in like the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Tata Nexon and Hyundai Venue. Before long, other manufacturers like Toyota, Nissan, Renault and Kia too will have joined this segment with their own offerings. That leaves only Skoda and Volkswagen among mainstream carmakers without a offering in the sub-compact SUV space. And Honda too, but there are a lot of speculations about that and no concrete word from the carmaker itself.
Of course with so much potential from a segment, the Volkswagen group surely wouldn’t want to miss out on that opportunity. In fact, there will be sub-compact SUVs from Skoda and Volkswagen in the very near future. Currently, the VW Group is working hard for the India 2.0 Project which will debut cars like the Volkswagen Taigun and the Skoda Vision IN, but going ahead, the brand is also working on developing new cars for India under the India 3.0 Project. This will not only include sub-compact SUVs but also mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles as well.
Volkswagen had previously shared their intent of grabbing at least 5% share in the passenger car market in India (Skoda and Volkswagen combined). Currently, they are quite far from the said target with only 0.9% and 0.5% market share for Volkswagen and Skoda respectively. The upcoming Volkswagen Taigun and Skoda Vision IN will spearhead this target when they are launched sometime in 2021. Both the SUVs are based on a localized version of MQB AO platform, dubbed the MQB AO IN platform and will be locally manufactured to take on the competition to the Creta, Seltos, and others.
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The upcoming sub-4m SUVs will also be based on the same MQB AO platform, but they will be trimmed to fit the size bracket. That should also give VW the economies of scale and considering the tax benefits for cars under 4 meters in length, Volkswagen should be able to price its product competitively. According to reports, these sub-compact SUVs in India will be launched in India under the Skoda brand name first, followed by Volkswagen. There has been no official confirmation on a launch timeline but they aren’t expected before 2022 at least.
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Under the hood, both the Skoda and Volkswagen sub-compact SUVs could be powered by the 1.0L TSI engine that already does duty on the Polo, Vento and Rapid. While the exact state of tune is not confirmed, the sub-compact SUVs could be using the engine in a slight higher state of tune – perhaps 115PS of power and 200Nm of torque – but we will find that out eventually. And perhaps by then Honda too might have finalized their plans about a sub-compact SUV for India, if at all. With that, the sub-comapct SUV segment will be the most populated car segment ever in India.
