Volkswagen defers foray in compact car segment

Volkswagen has dismissed any kind of prominent battle with India’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India and other famous auto giants including Tata Motors and Hyundai for a share in the low cost compact car segment in the country. VW knows for a fact that entering the small car segment might just erode its brand image in India. Skoda was the first one amongst the VW group brands to enter into the small car segment of the Indian car market. Volkswagen was planning to launch a hatchback in the Indian car market this year, but with the change in plans, it is now pushed for about 3 more years. After parting ways with Suzuki Motor Corporation, Volkswagen has not shared its launch plans for Volkswagen Up! so far. This new small car was to be placed just below Volkswagen Polo, with some developmental help from Suzuki.

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The member of board and director of sales and marketing of Skoda Auto, Mr. Jurgen Stackmann mentioned that the company is certainly very interested to foray into the small car segment, but right now the firm is busy analyzing the segment and till now there hasn’t been any concrete decision on this topic. Currently, Volkswagen is not going to enter the small car segment of the Indian car market. It is a very well known fact that Indian car market is totally dominated by small cars. Auto giants like Renault and Nissan are trying their level best to compete with established car makers like Maruti, Fiat, Ford India and Tata Motors.

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The micro and mini car segment of Indian auto market are ruled by cars like Tata Nano, Hyundai Santro, Maruti 800, Chevrolet Spark, Maruti Alto, Maruti Wagon R and Maruti A-Star. All these cars fall into the price range of Rs. 1.5 lakh to Rs. 4.28 lakh. On the other hand, Volkswagen Polo’s starting price is Rs. 4.7 lakh, whereas Skoda Fabia holds an initial price tag of Rs. 4.65 lakh. Therefore, Volkswagen group needs to first establish itself properly into the Indian car market and fetch a huge chunk of market share before foraying into the small car segment of the Indian car market and launching its new car.

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