Volkswagen Beetle launch in India by 2011

The original people’s car will be in India soon. No, we are not talking of the Nano, but the VW Beetle.  So far, indications are that the Volkswagen Beetle would be in India by next year.  Company officials have said that the Beetle is expected in India after Volkswagen strengthens its dealership network in the country, that is by year 2009. The car maker has kicked off a dealership expansion drive to add to the eight dealers it has currently. Volkswagen dealerships will be increased to around 15 dealers soon. It is expected that by 2011, the company might go for the acquisition of around 120 dealers. Updated: VW Beetle launch by Dec 2009

Volkswagen is aiming at building its presence in India with the help of the Beetle. The company’s plan is to use the Beetle as a brand building tool for itself in the highly competitive Indian car segment by 2010. Currently, Volkswagen plans to ship the Beetle as a completely Built Unit (CBU) from Mexico, the company has revealed.

As and when the brand building gets successfully complete, it might also think of establishing a manufacturing plant at Chakan in Maharashtra. The buzz is that the company has set aside close to Rs 3,600 crore to be invested in the proposed plant. This manufacturing facility is expected to build the Beetle for India.

Meanwhile, the German automobile giant is also mulling over options on coming up with a research centre in India, similar to the one the group set up in China three years ago. The proposed research centre would look into and study accidents and use the results to improve accident safety in the cars VW makes in future. The German company will set up the centre to kick off research across all products in its group.