[volkman10]

Originally Posted by motorworks

Read in the papers today, TOI or ET, dont remember since I read them back to back, that the Ameo is going to be discontinued.

Yes Ameo is likely to get discontinued post April 2020. Posting the link that appeared early this year.

Link

[volkman10]

VAG plans for India revealed with time frame.

- 8 Models in 18 Months.

- 4 will be for Domestic market and the rest for Exports.

- First model to come out in early 2021. [ CUV(Skoda)--->T Cross--->Sedans]

- 2 S/CUV's and 2 Sedans ( VW+ Skoda Combined)

- A set of four left-hand-drive models – two each for Skoda and Volkswagen – will also
be produced by 2022.

- All domestic focused products tailored for India.

- Skodas & VWs will share platforms but styling will be differentiated

- Targeting 95% local content. EA211 engine family to be manufactured in India

- CNG is a good alternative to diesel in the future as it’s clean & has low CO2 too- but need infrastructure.

- Expect cars to become significantly more expensive because of future regulations

Link

[arindambasu13]

Originally Posted by volkman10

The more important thing to watch is the Tiagun, Next Gen Polo( bigger than the current Gen) and the India specific sedan.


Cheers!

The other exciting launch will be the T Cross in 2020. Creta rival, I believe. The initial photos and videos look pretty promising.

By the way, haven't they confirmed that the new Polo will not make its way to India? Or did they change that position somewhere along the way?

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by arindambasu13

By the way, haven't they confirmed that the new Polo will not make its way to India? Or did they change that position somewhere along the way?

No hatchbacks are seen it its revealed plans till 2022.

[volkman10]

Volkswagen will not bring EV's in the volume segment. Will bet big on CNG's over EV's.

But in the premium space the group will plan EV's . Will bring Audi e-tron to India in 2019.

the Group plans to launch models from all brands in the EV space and will evaluate when is the right time to bring any of them of them to India. He also adds, however, that in India an electric car's CO2 footprint is "no less" than that of a BS VI car. And that's because of fossil fuel as a major source of electricity generation in India. Also because EV batteries have to be imported,

The electric mobility play for the Volkswagen Group is likely to remain only in the premium space for some time.

Link

[daniel990]

VW, is infuriating in their logic or should I say lack off!!!
Extremely late in reacting to the present Indian craze for small SUV, models likely to come out in early 2021! What is the management smoking?

The entire market is likely to change by then.

The average India wants low fuel consumption, with a sunroof thrown in, low price, and low maintenance cost. That's the mass market, period.

The fancy stuff, with great handling, high power, will automatically sell IF only the crowds ENTER the showroom. This is not rocket science, but these guys are right now on some strange trip around Jupiter and by the time they get back, the market would have changed.

Disclaimer: I drive a Vento TSI, GREAT HANDLING CAR, was a noisy rattle bucket from day one, finally made her silent WITHOUT rattles or squeaks, using:

1. Plenty of rexine padding tucked in the the side of the parcel tray.
2. Wedging a stiff piece of wood just under the switches of the AC, to keep the plastic tight.
3. Added foam padding to the top corner of the doors where metal touches metal. Made a huge difference.
4. Foam tube wedged into the top of the felt (from dealer after huge pressure on dealer) to stop creaking door.

Finally silence after a three year struggle.

I've done 35k km, get an average of 11-12 km in city traffic all in D, and 16-17 on high speed highway drives in S.

[avishar]

Volkswagen to stop building on fossil fuel engines from 2026

Volkswagen has strengthened their new stand for e-mobility when their chief strategist for the VW brand, Michael Jost, announced the end of all combustion engines for the carmaker. The ICE, no matter if petrol or diesel, will not be developed any longer after 2026.

The news came as a surprise to the crowd gathered at the Handelsblatt Auto Summit on Tuesday. Jost said: “In the year 2016 the last product based on a combustion platform will be started.” He added that the corporation would see its future in the electric drive.

Yet this does not mean that VW will stop building cars with combustion engines that year. The company thinks in seven-year development cycles so when the engineers in Wolfsburg take to the drawing board in 2025, it will be the last time they may include a fossil-fuel powered engine.

This means the last ICEs by Volkswagen will probably be sold around 2030. It is a sort of holding out as long as they can because after that year more and more countries will begin to ban sales of such vehicles anyway. Moreover Jost pointed to the Paris Climate Accord and tightening emission regulations.

Still, the chief strategist’s announcement is a stand for electric mobility. He clearly said that battery-electric vehicles and not hybrids were the way to go for Volkswagen and overall the move is further than other carmakers have been prepared to go as most only agreed to discontinue diesel model for now. He also said, Volkswagen wants to introduce sustainability across the entire life cycle.

This is also in line with their latest strategy. Just two weeks ago Volkswagen announced a 44 billion euro investment in future technologies by 2023 with about 3/4, that is 30 billion euros reserved for e-mobility alone. VW also confirmed that they were checking the possibility of entering mass production of battery cells, with SK Innovation as the potential partner.

From here

[volkman10]

Volkswagen's Brand Annual Session 2018 - highlights ( not yet applicable for India though)

[JS Kwt]

The low-income group may not be able to afford the new small electric vehicles in the near future as it will be slightly more expensive than the current entry-level options!

Small electric vehicles will be more expensive than current options, says Volkswagen

Since the cost of production of electric vehicles is significantly higher to the current cars, the chairman of the Volkswagen group, Hans-Dieter Poetsch, said in interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, that “We have the clear goal of making electromobility accessible to a broad section of the population, that is to make it affordable. The current price level cannot stay the same if these cars are equipped with electric motors. Therefore, it will inevitably lead to significant price increases in the small car segment.”


The chairman suggested that entry-level electric vehicles will be significantly more expensive than the current options and hence they will be out of reach to many under the low-income group.

Source

[volkman10]

Volkswagen is likely to move out of the sub-4m Compact sedan segment. Ameo could be axed in 2020.

To be sure, while Skoda and VW may not have entry-level sedan vehicles in India, will be open to a Compact SUV or hatchback in the sub 4m range.

We will not do any products like the Ameo. The Sub-4 metre sedan is a very, very tricky product. It works only when the hatch that it’s based on is significantly below 4 metres (in length), otherwise the aesthetics of the car won’t work

Better sense prevails:

Instead of Ameo bringing in incremental sales, the model ended up cannibalising both its premium hatchback Polo and mid-size sedan Vento sales in India

Link

[i74js]

To a large extent, Ameo was a half baked product, simply shaving off the trunk has served no purpose. The side profile was no where close to how a VW product should look.

The sub-par after sales experience and high service cost (atleast the perception even if it may not be true) has further added to the worries of Ameo's poor sales.

[Starfire]

To be honest, the day the Ameo was launched in 2016 was the day it was all set to fail. Mainly cause VW had no business launching a car based on the same platform and interiors of a car that was launched 7 years prior to it.

It was purely out of greed to grab a chunk of the already establisted sub 4m sedan segment where cars like the Dzire dominated since day one. The only thing it did was end up back firing on VW itself by cannibalising the Polo/Vento. Instead they should have focused on giving more aggressive updates than just a mere paint job to their existing cars like the Polo and Vento which already sold numbers! or atleast they should have brought the B8 Passat in india back in 2016 when the Camry was old, Accord was non existent and the new Superb was just freshly launched and yet to establish its roots.

Also IMO The 1.4 TSI offering in the Vento would have cut alot of the Honda City market, especially the enthusiasts into buying the Vento. When coupled with the DSG, it would have possibly become the hottest c-segment sedan in India!

[PrasunBannerjee]

VW is putting it's feet in the wrong direction always. At least some sense prevailed now. They launched the Polo with a puny petrol and diesel mill. Diesel became a better one on the run, but petrol even punier. Then the disastrous Ameo. Glad they're taking better steps. They should launch the newer polo rather sooner and a better petrol engine options. Not all enthusiasts can afford maintenance of a tsi and dsg. There will be happy takers if they plonk in a better refined and tuned 1.2 petrol than the horsecart 1.0

[Thermodynamics]

Two years back, I was almost bought in to buying Ameo sheerly due to the powerful Diesel that gives pushed back to seat acceleration. Two things swayed me away and I did mention this to SA, 1. Claustrophobic in space, 2. In case it is discontinued and not being a global model, sourcing spares even internationally wouldn't be possible.

Btw, Ameo and Polo have more or less the same dimension, same motors albeit different tuning. So what is the value add by Ameo.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Polo has been more successful than I imagined. Why is VW loosing focus on that market?