A day ahead of Auto Expo, Volkswagen on Tuesday unveiled ‘Ameo’, its volume car in the sub-compact sedan segment against the likes of Maruti Suzuki’s Dzire, Honda’s Amaze and Hyundai’s Xcent, to name a few. The company has planned four launches in the next 15 months including launch of ‘Ameo’ in the next six month.
“We will launch Ameo in the second half of this year. It is a car specially designed for the Indian market. It will mark our entry into the growing volume segment in India,” said Volkswagen Passenger Cars India Director Michael Mayer.
“The compact sedan segment continues to garner much interest among Indian consumers and the company is happy to mark its presence in this competitive segment, he added.
“Besides Ameo, the company also plans to launch three new models, premier SUV Tiguan, Passat hybrid and Polo GTI during the next financial year,” he said.
The company also plans to update the engines of over 3 lakh vehicles that it recalled in India after a Government-ordered probe found cheat device in German auto major’s diesel engines.
“In the 1.2 litre (petrol), it will be a mere update on the engine management software and in the 1.5 litre we will have to change one small part that is air straightener,” said Mayer .
When asked if the company aims to complete the exercise in 2016 itself, Mayer said: “We aim to but given the large numbers, we will have to see how the response of people is. But definitely we would like to do the majority of the cars in 2016.”