Volkswagen is one of the largest car companies of the world but the brand has seen its sales dwindling in India lately, not that they were very great initially. Now with the merger of Skoda and Volkswagen being announced in India, the brand is now pulling up its sleeves to launch new vehicles in the Indian market. The new strategy under which these cars will be launched has been termed as the India 2.0 strategy. These new launches will be aimed at reviving the sales of the German brand. The brand will encash the growing popularity of SUVs in the market and will launch two new SUVs in India this year. Let’s take a look at the SUVs that the German brand has lined up for India.
Volkswagen T-Roc
The T-Roc has already been performing good in the Europe and now the company is all set to bring it to India. What is to be noted here is that Volkswagen will not homologate the vehicle for India, rather it will use the provision to import 2,500 units of a car without the need to do so. As per the reports on the internet, the German carmaker may carry some of the burden of the import duty while bringing the car to India and price it around the Rs. 17-20 lakh mark. Given the rumored price point at which the company will offer the compact SUV in India, it will lock horns with the top models of Tata Harrier and be squarely pitted against the Jeep Compass and Hyundai Tucson in the Indian market.
Talking of the upcoming T-Roc, its international version gets the option of 3 turbocharged petrol engines. The first one being the 1L engine rated for 113 Bhp and 200 Nm and comes with a 6 speed manual transmission as standard. The second option is a 1.5L engine rated for 148 Bhp and 250 Nm and this comes with the option of a 6 speed manual or a 7 speed twin clutch automatic gearbox. Finally the most powerful 2L engine is rated for 187 Bhp and 320 Nm and comes with 7-speed twin clutch DSG automatic transmission as standard. There are chances that only one option will make it to India.
Volkswagen Tiguan AllSpace
Tiguan is the flagship model of Volkswagen in India. However, the sales of this particular luxury SUV are on a constant decline as the German SUV was not able to cope with the stiff rivalry in the segment. Launched in India in 2017, Tiguan had garnered a strong first impression from the market. However, recently the presence of cheaper alternatives offering similar level of comfort and reliability has caused the sales of the flagship model of Volkswagen to drop by 43% percent on a year-to-year basis. However, as part of reviving its fortunes, Volkswagen will reportedly be introducing the AllSpace model as a replacement of the regular Tiguan. Considering facts, it does make sense as the AllSpace is more practical than the standard Tiguan as it offers three-row seating. Volkswagen already sells the 7-seater model of Tiguan in the international markets with the suffix of AllSpace.
The AllSpace may or may not act as a replacement of the standard model but if it does the AllSpace suffix could be eliminated. What is to be noted is that Skoda Kodiaq sold in India is also built on the same platform as Tiguan and has triple row seating for 7 passengers. So there are hopes that the Tiguan AllSpace will be very similar to Kodiaq. One can expect the company to use the same 2L diesel engine on the AllSpace variant that is present on the current Tiguan in the Indian market. The engine is rated for 148 Bhp and 340 Nm and comes with 4WD SUV and a 7-speed DSG transmission.