Mumbai, January 29, 2014: Volkswagen India has announced a significant enhancement in driver safety with the introduction of dual front airbags as standard fitment on variants of the Polo hatchback.

Building further on enhancing the safety aspect of its cars, Volkswagen is now also offering anti-lock brakes (ABS) as standard fitment on the Comfortline version of the Polo.

In a move to partially offset increased inputs costs and changes thanks to a result of exchange rate fluctuations, the company has announced a 2.7 percent price hike on all Polo and Vento variants. This price hike, of up to Rs 22,700 for the Polo and up to Rs 26,800 for the Vento, is effective February 1, 2014.

Commenting on new safety features on the Polo, and on the price hike, Arvind Saxena, managing director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales India, said: “We are proud to be leading the cause of driver safety and we believe the introduction of airbags as standard fitment across all variants of the Polo is a major step forward in the context of safety. Input costs have steadily increased over the last few months, and exchange rate movements have not been favourable. We have tried our best to absorb some of these, but in order to be able to continue to offer best-in-class quality and technology to our customers, we have now announced a 2.7 percent hike in our car prices.”

VW India sold 35,130 units of the Polo in calendar year 2013, about 4 percent lower than in 2012.