Auto India, Car India

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What started with Ratan Tata’s dream to make worlds smallest and cheap car, Tata Nano, has become a rage nowadays amongst the automobile giants across the world including Volkswagen to tap the compelling Indian automobile sector of smaller cars.

Just to give a glimpse of the idea, this year has seen many new entrants and niche names in the smaller cars sections like Ford Figo, Maruti Swift, Nissan Micra, and Fiat Uno, foraying into the market with their offerings making it as challenging as it can become.

One more name has entered into the fray and is none other than German automobile major Volkswagen, which has earlier introduced Polo, but there have been reports doing the round and the company has confirmed the same that they are planning to roll out even a smaller car than their very own, Polo.

Believe me; we will have something smaller than the Polo. We are working on it,

Volkswagen Group’s India Communication Head Kurt Rippholz was quoted as saying when people wanted him to clear the air about the new model.

He, however, clarified that nothing has been finalized yet.

Volkswagen (VW) has started manufacturing operations in India earlier this year at its Chakan plant, rolling out the compact car Polo. It has invested around Rs 3,500 crore on the plant, which has the capacity to produce 110,000 units per annum.

The small car market in India, the second fastest growing auto market in the world after China, is a lucrative one. It accounts for about 75 over cent of the total Indian car market, which is approaching 2 million units annually.

While Maruti Suzuki, India operations, is the leader with over 55 per cent market share, new entrants like Nissan and Ford are spicing up the competition. Hyundai, Tata Motors and General Motors are also significant players in the segment. Volkswagen is also trying to have a significant piece of the pie.

Other small change they have made in Polo is the integrated third box to suit more of your luggage and renamed it as Vento. The Vento is felt to be positioned between Polo and Jetta Sedan

With the planning of even a smaller car than the Polo, reports are rife that it might be named as Fox or Ibiza. Moreover, Volkswagen is also expecting to strike a chord in the buzzing Indian compact car segment. Presently, the Volkswagen Fox is operational in Brazil and expected to make an Indian entry soon.

Considering India becoming a hotspot for investors from all around, a battle of sorts is expected to win the customer’s satisfaction that the Volkswagen’s Vento or its future prospects, Fox or Ibiza are beefing up like never before. This is an excellent piece of information for our economy to earn foreign benefits and revive itself.