Is Volkswagen Planning A Low Cost Car For India?

Updated: Friday, January 18, 2013, 13:01 [IST]

Volkswagen, the German carmaker which is aiming to become the world''s largest carmaker by 2018 has taken the best available option to achieve its target. Volkswagen is reportedly developing a new low cost car that will be sold in China. This new low cost car will be placed below the Up, which was previously believed to be the car made for emerging markets like India.

The Volkswagen Up has been launched in Europe but the small car will find the going difficult in price conscious markets like India. Volkswagen India has not confirmed the launch of the Up in India despite reports of a test mule being spotted in Mumbai. The Up's price would not make it competitive against existing entry level cars in India.

It appears that the Up will remain quite far away from the Indian market. Volkswagen is now looking at building a car that costs just over INR 4 lakhs. The new low cost car will in all likelihood be a hatchback. There has been no confirmation about its engines.

Volkswagen has expressed confidence about developing the low cost car despite not having much experience in building such cars. We would like to remind you that Volkswagen had bought a stake in Japanese carmaker Suzuki just to get expertise in building small cars. The two carmaker were not able to cement a relationship and are no longer working together.

Volkswagen wants its new low cost car to be affordable and yet be desirable. It is looking to build a stylish car that has all the Volkswagen DNA of quality and reliability. Further, the car should be available I a variety of colours.

Although this low cost car will be sold initially in China, Volkswagen will be definitely tempted to launch the car here in India. We have to wait at least for a couple of years before we can have a low cost Volkswagen on Indian roads.

Low Cost cars are the new trend with Datsun reviving its Datsun brand just to develop low cost cars for India.