India, Brazil and China are among the key target markets for most automobile giants across the world as these markets are growing at better rates compared to the mature markets of USA and Europe where the growth is more moderate. Most key players are working on their small car plans for these emerging markets and Volkswagen has big plans for these markets too. With Volkswagen Polo being the lowest car offering by Volkswagen India, there is en empty spot for a car smaller than it in VW India’s portfolio. This spot will be most likely be filled with a low cost 4 door Volkswagen UP derived from its European sibling which comes loaded with lot of premium features. The low cost Volkswagen UP will be introduced in India, Brazil, China and other south east Asian countries where the demand for low cost fuel efficient cars is very high. As per the official information shared by Volkswagen so far, they said they will announce their decision on Volkswagen UP for India by the end of 2012, but with the reports of Volkswagen UP already arrived for testing in Brazil, it is an indication that it is positive on its plans to introduce low cost Volkswagen UP in India and other high growth markets.
image – Volkswagen UP Two Door Version
The Volkswagen Up is likely to launch in Brazil by 2014 which requires a testing of close to 1 million Kms and it will require to be adapted to the road conditions and tuned as per the fuel quality in the country. There will be other changes made for the country specific model to comply with the local compliance norms. These processes usually take long time and efforts before the car can hit the assembly line and go into production.
image – Volkswagen UP Four Door Version
If Volkswagen officially announces the UP for India by the end of 2012, we expect it will take another one year for it to launch it and make it to the Volkswagen dealerships. Also Volkswagen will need to increase its sales and service network further to reach more buyers in India as the small car segment has potential customers in urban, semi-urban and rural markets as well where a brand must reach to tap the full potential of the sales of a good product. We hope that Volkswagen UP 4 Door version or Skoda Citigo (small car based on VW UP) will make its way into Indian market by end of 2013 or early 2014. We will keep you posted on the same. Stay tuned for more information.
via – Carros
