The sixth generation Volkswagen Polo debuts globally in 2016 and is based on the new MQB platform but won’t come to India before 2020.
Volkswagen has finally decided to pull up its sleeves and improve its strategy for India. The much needed step arrives after Volkswagen has been posting lower sales numbers in the least three years. They plan to introduce more new models, provide their dealers with more incentives and address their after sales experience. These steps have been taken after taking feedback from their customers. The European giant is desperately looking for ways to reduce cost by utilising more locally sourced components and by tightening their marketing strategy for making more affordable vehicles for the Indian market.
Travelling further on the improvement front, Volkswagen is preparing to launch the new Beetle, Passat premium sedan, Tiguan sports utility vehicle and a compact sedan as well to capture sales. The new Beetle will be launched in India in the second half of 2015 and a new product will be expected to launch every 4-6 months for the next two years. But astonishingly, the next generation Polo launch has been delayed from 2018 to 2020 in India. This decision is not welcomed by Volkswagen India and they are pushing its headquarters to get the MQB platform underpinned model to India by 2018.
What this means is, the next generation or rather the sixth iteration of the Volkswagen Polo will make its global debut in 2016, that is next year but unlike the current gen model (which was launched immediately after its global launch), it won’t arrive on our shores immediately, instead, it will take a good four years for the German brand to bring it to our country. This is both shocking and disappointing because companies like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai have launched models first in India and then in other markets. Case in point being the Elite i20 and the upcoming YRA, the latter is expected to go on sale in India before overseas sales commence.
We expect Volkswagen India to consider this matter as something very important as the the Polo has been stacking up decent numbers for quite some time now. The premium hatchback segment is growing quickly and Volkswagen will definitely need a fresher product to sought off future competition from its rivals. Newly appointed director for Volkswagen in India, Mr. Mayer said that his mission in India is twofold – shaping future plans and creating a excellent sales and service organisation that is always linked with quality. Let’s hope that Volkswagen has planned out this decision well enough.
Source – TheEconomicTimes.com
