VW starts Polo production

Volkswagen started commercial production of its Polo hatchback model (code VW 250) at its Chakan plant on December 12 and plans to launch the car at the Auto Expo on January 5, 2010.

Actual sales of the Polo will begin around the end of March at 40 dealerships and the company is hoping to sell 25,000 units during the first year.

Although VW did not announce the pricing, it is reliably learnt to start from Rs 4.6 lakh for the base 1.2-litre petrol version. This rollout comes just 24 months since construction began on the Chakan plant at the end of 2007.

VW says it has already achieved localisation levels of 50 percent for the Polo and expects this to increase to around 80 percent by 2012. However, there is no plan to start making powertrains at the Chakan plant at this time.

Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan and Prof. Dr. Jochem Heizmann, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, with responsibility for Group Production formally rolled out the Polo.

According to Heizmann, “The start of production of our Polo is more than just the rollout of a car. It marks a milestone in our journey together into a successful future for the Volkswagen Group in India. We aim to achieve a market share of eight to 10 percent in the next four to six years with the three Volkswagen Group brands – Audi, Skoda, and Volkswagen – by ambitious plans for India. The Polo will help us to increase our market share of this growing market significantly.”

VW says the Polo has been very well received in Europe getting more than 130,000 orders since its launch in May this year. It has also won the prestigious Car of the Year award recently.

The Chakan plant, which has a capacity of 110,000 units per annum, currently builds the Skoda Fabia and from the second half of 2010 it will also start making a new saloon car (code VW 251), which is based partly on the Polo platform and will compete in the C- segment of the Indian car market. This new model will have an extended wheelbase and focus on improved rear seat comfort.

Heizmann confirms that the Chakan plant is “VW’s most modern manufacturing plant in the world” and uses the methods, principles and quality standards of the ‘VW Production System’. However, he said that it had a “lower level of automation” in order to adjust to the Indian manufacturing environment and that the entire plant capacity would be utilised “within the next four to five years.”