VW India Considering Local Assembly of T-Roc & Tiguan Allspace

Volkswagen India is contemplating local assembly of two of its recently launched SUV models, T-Roc and Tiguan Allspace, in the country. The company has clearly stated that the budget-friendly MQB A0 IN architecture will play a substantial role in the new models for India and it is heavily banking on it for sales numbers. Presently, Volkswagen T-Roc and Volkswagen Tiguan Allspace are being sold as completely built units (CBUs) in the Indian market but if the demand rises for the duo, then the German automaker has no reservations in commencing local production of these models.

In an interaction with our friends at carandbike, Steffen Knapp, Director, Volkswagen India said, "The idea obviously is to manufacture locally if the vehicle (T-Roc) is a success in India. It seems to be from what we see at the moment as in we see a lot of pull. One opportunity is importing parts and components and assembling it, I don't think we'll fully build the unit in India (as in assembling it completely in India) like the Taigun which will be a local assembly. But local manufacturing in our Aurangabad plant is interesting for us to look at." The company had announced India strategy 2.0 last year by forming a new arm in the form of Skoda Auto Volkswagen India Private Limited for the sales and operations in the country.

The Union Government's new homologation norms have come in really handy for Volkswagen as they permit carmakers to retail 2500 imported models without going through the local homologation process. "This I think is the beauty of the new rule which allows us to sell 2500 units without bearing the cost of local homologation. We get the cars just as they are built in Europe and tested in the market and we can decide what we can do with this vehicle," added Mr Knapp. It was also learnt during the interaction with Steffen Knapp that the company has already sold close to 50 percent of the allocated stock of Tiguan AllSpace while the first shipment of T-Roc has been entirely sold.

Read Also : Detailed Comparison: Volkswagen T-Roc vs Kia Seltos vs MG Hector

Source - carandbike