Volkswagen Up! in India, price Rs 3 lac!

Oh ho ho. Bloody hell. That’s some news to come up at the end of the day! All the while, I was thinking that Volkswagen shock pricing of the VW Polo is an interesting story, and look what’s been dredged up by AutoCar India.

Volkswagen Up! photo.

The news is that Volkswagen will launch its cute small car, the VW Up!, in India at a price of around Rs 3 lakh in 2020-2011.

Currently, the lowest priced model from the Volkswagen Group in India is the Skoda Fabia, a premium hatchback car which has not been selling well at all. Skoda Fabia prices start at around Rs 4.5 lakh.

VW Up concept car

The Volkswagen Up! was shown off for the first time at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. then, the car was planned as a rear-engine, rear wheel dirve car, much in the footsteps of the VW Beetle. However, the production version of the car is quite different. It still more or less maintains the looks of the Up! concept, but is muuch wider and longer. But no more rear-wheel drive and rear engine – that would make things much more complex than they need to be. So the current Volkswagen Up! – the one which is headed for India – will be a normal front wheel drive, front-engined car.

The Up! had come to India during the 2008 Auto Expo.

Remember that there are 2 more years to go – that means that price tag of Rs 3 lakh can undergo a revision by the time the Up! launches.

According to the AutoCar story, Volkswagen expects to sell 1 lakh units of the Up! in India, positioning it against the A-Star and the Hyundai i10. On coolness factor alone, priced similarly, the VW Up! has a very good chance to give those two cars a run for their money.

The engine of the VW Up! would definitely come from the Volkswagen parts bin which also comprises Skoda engines. Do not expect something that is much more powerful than the current crop of B-segment cars though – that would drive prices up, and Volkswagen definitely does not want the Up! to end up as another Skoda Fabia.

What else do we know? Well, the engine would likely be a 1.1 liter 3 cylinder unit or a 1.2 liter unit, the car is a typical hatchback with 4 doors and a hatch.. It looks definitely a class above its competition, for sure.

The Volkswagen Up! has also been considered for import into United States, and even a luxury version from Audi was planned, but all those plans are fluid right now.

The VW Up! is expected to be launched in Europe next year, and India would see a launch soon afterwards.

Volkswagen will likely utilise its plants at Aurangabad, and the upcoming Pune plant, to produce the Up! in India at affordable prices. The car would cost only 900 euros to build in India, while VW plans to sell it in Europe at 9000 Euros.