Volkswagen has woken up from a long slumber and is up to compete in the fifth-largest automobile market in the world. The sales of the carmaker have been very inconsistent over the years due to limited product range and expensive repair costs. Also, there were not many updates to the regular products like the Polo. There were, however, a few limited editions of the Polo to keep the brand fresh and exciting for the customers, but the sales did not see much improvement. That is when VW decided to join with its subsidiary, Skoda to launch the joint India 2.0 strategy to increase the market share and the results were decent. Now, this year, Volkswagen has planned a lot of new launches. This includes a mid-size SUV and Creta-Seltos-rival, the Taigun, all-new Vento and another SUV. That is for later in the year, but right now Volkswagen has tried to breathe life into its oldest offering in India, the Polo and Vento with Turbo Editions added to the variants. Let us look at what new comes with this edition.
Also read: VW Tiguan spotted testing – Expected prices and features!
VW Polo and Vento – Turbo Editions
Based on the Comfortline variant of Polo and Vento, the Turbo Edition brings with it a fair few new features. This mainly includes cosmetic ones differentiating it from the regular Polo and Vento. This edition of the Polo and Vento get glossy black spoilers and ORVMs, a ”Turbo” badge on the fenders and sporty seat covers on the inside. Then there is the feature of automatic climate control. VW hopes to freshen up the lineup with this edition and has priced the Polo at Rs 6.99 lakh and the Vento at Rs 8.69 lakh, ex-showroom. This can prove to be a valuable addition to the Polo and Vento till the time the all-new Vento is launched in India.
Both the Polo and Vento continue with the 1.0-litre turbo petrol TSI engine making 110PS and 175Nm. This edition comes mated to a 6-speed manual transmission only.
Also read: VW Taigun spotted testing – Expected launch soon!
VW Taigun and all-new Vento
The future plans of the German automaker are very clear with the new Taigun and Vento. It has decided to start a new chapter in India with Taigun, which is a mid-size SUV based on MQB A0 IN platform, which has been specially engineered for India. By entering into this segment, VW has announced that they are here to stay and challenge the highest-selling SUV in the country, the Hyundai Creta. Also, VW understands that to sustain their business model in India, this is the segment they have to target and with a product that will not be overpriced. Because the customers have a lot of options and the carmakers are getting competitive with pricing and feature-list. Volkswagen plans to achieve a competitive price-bracket with 90-95% localization.
Also read: Volkswagen in 2021 – Upcoming SUVs!
Similarly, Vento will be a make or break product for the brand because of the segment staying constantly under pressure from the compact SUV segment. The segment has stopped showing considerable growth but with another product in the executive-sedan segment, there might be some excitement. In addition to this, VW has also introduced its Sarvottam 2.0 strategy in India under which, the prime focus of the brand will be to improves customer experience. All the details of the Sarvottam 2.0 strategy are explained in detail in or earlier post.
