Volkswagen will launch the Up! small car in India next year. The German automaker had earlier decided to utilize platforms of Maruti Suzuki to design small cars, which would be based on the A-Star and WagonR. However, with the Volkswagen Suzuki alliance going everything but smooth, Volkswagen has called off sharing platforms with Maruti Suzuki and will instead commence its small car attack with the launch of the Up!. The Up! looks like a promising small car with good interior space and small dimensions. We can expect Volkswagen to heavily localise content to price the Up! close to Rs. 3 lakhs for the base variant.
Osami Suzuki, Chairman and CEO, Suzuki Motors has already told Volkswagen that he is ready to buy Volkswagen’s 19.9% stake in Suzuki and will sell their 1.5% stake in Volkswagen to end the alliance. Volkswagen blames Suzuki of violating terms of the alliance by partnering with Fiat for diesel engines. Now Fiat makes far superior engines (atleast in the less than 1200 cc diesel capacity) than Volkswagen and there is no reason Suzuki will dump the Multijet motors for a 3-pot VW powerplant. This same 1.2-liter TDi motor will power the Up! which will make its Indian debut at the 2012 Auto Expo. The Up! will also use the petrol engine of the Polo but there are high chances of Volkswagen re-tunning it for high fuel efficiency. The Volkswagen Up! will directly compete with the Maruti Suzuki WagonR, Honda Brio and Hyundai Eon.
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Update – We have added two pictures of the Volkswagen Cross Up! which is the only 5-door version of the Up! small car. Volkswagen will launch a 5-door version of the Up! in India and there is very little chance of a 3-door version being launched in the near future.
