Volkswagen Polo

Volkswagen is quite bullish about the emerging markets like India and
China. In India, the company is likely to launch Polo, a hatchback
which is under production. Expected to be launched in the early 2010, the car is positioned in the premium-hatchback segment. Polo will compete against Skoda Fabia and Honda Jazz. Recently Volkswagen inked a pact with the Maharashtra government for producing Volkswagen cars from Pune. The company will get 230 hectares of land in Chakan at Pune for the manufacturing plant.

The car after its launch in the Indian market, will compete with the likes of Maruti’s Swift, Hyundai’s Getz and Tata Motor’s Indica. According to a Volkswagen official, the company would go for the B segment of the passenger car market, which incidentally is the largest in the country. The company sees further growth in this segment.

The car company Volkswagen is also planning to launch its Passat model in India, which will don a price tag of Rs 30 lakh. Passat may be rolled out of the Skoda Auto manufacturing facility at Aurangabad.

Volkswagen Polo is sold in Europe and other markets worldwide in hatchback, saloon, coupé and estate variants. There have been four separate generations of the Polo. Some generations were face lifted mid way through production, with the updated versions known again unofficially by an addition of the letter F to the model number, e.g. Mk IIF. There is considerable variation in Polo model designations, with some sources using Mk as equivalent to Series which causes confusion.

Key to Volkswagen India plans are two mass-market models that will be produced in large volumes in the company’s upcoming factory in Chakan. The first is the sixth-generation Polo (A06) hatchback that is under development and is expected in 2009.