[aniketi]

Originally Posted by OHC VTEC

Less than 45 days after its launch, the VW Polo has attracted over 5000 confirmed bookings. The amazing response for this vehicle, we think, is due to its sharp looks and great interiors.

Initially announced at Rs 4.34 for the base 1.2L petrol, VW revised the prices after the budget, and now prices start at Rs 4.42 lakhs Ex-Showroom Delhi for the base petrol. With just 42 dealers in India and signs of more demand, VW should ramp up their dealer network quickly.

Neeraj Garg, member of the board and director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales India -

Polo is having a waiting period of about three-four months currently and we are ramping up the production of to meet the demand accordingly. We have confirmed bookings of 5,000 units of the Polo, with 500 units already delivered. The response towards our car has really reiterated the trust and confidence that our brand and importantly our products have been able to build up in a short span of time.

The Polo is offered in both petrol and the diesel variants. Both the engines displace 1.2L and both produce 75bhp and both are offered in 3 variants – Trendline, Comfortline and Highline. Is the Polo the hottest hatch after the Figo in recent times?

The Polo’s interiors and great looks have struck the right chord with Indians

I will say, its not at all an amazing response. 5000 bookings in 45 days is little above average response i will say. This is initial response with already lot of hype created about it for last few months. Polo comes in 4.5 to 6.5 Lac category where maximum number of cars are sold like Swift, Vista, i10, 120, Ritz, Dezire etc. If you consider there actual sales per month, 5 K is not much at all in 45 days. Once hype & initial attraction is over, after few months it will come down to 2-3 k i guess IMO.

[poloman]

Aniket please give due credit where required.5000 bookings is amazing due to the following facts.
VW is having a dealership count of only 40. So sales have come mostly from cities.
Diesel is yet to be launched.
VW is not a well known brand in India.
Lot of people have rejected Polo only due to the long waiting time.

[aniketi]

Originally Posted by poloman

Aniket please give due credit where required.5000 bookings is amazing due to the following facts.
VW is having a dealership count of only 40. So sales have come mostly from cities.
Diesel is yet to be launched.
VW is not a well known brand in India.
Lot of people have rejected Polo only due to the long waiting time.

Some credit is definitely there. But i would have agreed more if they would have got more than 10 k bookings in that period. Find my comments on your comments:

But you have to understand that anyways only city people are going to buy these costly hatches and not rural people. Do you see any Fabia in rural area? nope.
Diesel is not launched yet but again it is going to be a costly affair considering the petrol polo prices. So i doubt how much it will sell in comparison with Diesel Swift, i20, Punto, Vista & Figo.
VW is not well known in India, agreed but its world famous. So it should have helped.
People are waiting for Swift & i20 & even for Nano, Eeco as well. So i don't see why cant they wait for Polo then. They should have reduced the waiting period & have launched the diesel at the same time. Now they have lost the opportunity with the launch of Petrol & Diesel Figo at the same time.

Again this are my personal opinions. Only time will give the answer

[Sergei]

I test drove the polo in Chennai with 3 people in the car and honestly felt the car was underpowered. This is not from a reference point of higher powered cars. I drive an M800. Please don't jump the gun guys. I'm not saying I find the M800 more powerful. But I do think the polo loses out on the power to weight ratio front. In first gear, I found the polo struggling to transmit the power to the wheels. I drive with a light foot but was surprised to hear the sales rep say that german cars need the throttle to be floored to get some amount of power! Guess the FE goes out the window then.

The sales rep also said that the TD vehicle hadn't been serviced in a long time and was going for continuous tests. I don't know how valid this claim is.

Another major disadvantage at least in Chennai is that the service centers (3 in number I think) are located outside city limits. It will not be possible for a person to take his cars to the service center and wait for the service to complete. I believe they do have a pickup and drop facility for the car but I am definitely not comfortable with handing over my car keys to someone who is going to race the car to the service station which is outside city limits.


Whatever happened to the rumors about using maruti's A.S.S ?

[formel_eins]

5K bookings across 40 dealers and in most of the cases even without TD, well thats a commendable performance. And all this considering the fact that it was targeted only at urban audience. Even if it does 2-3K VW would be more than happy, if we look at numbers of Punto it hardly manages between 1000-1500 per month, so if Polo pulls out 2-3K it would be a ripper.

IMO Polo has a direct competition with I20 and Punto. Whereas figo competes with swift, ritz and vista. Since I have booked a Polo personally I would not like to see streets crowded with Polos, it can get irritating look what happened with Swift, every other car on the street is a swift, bit sore to eyes.

[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by formel_eins

5K bookings across 40 dealers and in most of the cases even without TD, well thats a commendable performance. And all this considering the fact that it was targeted only at urban audience. Even if it does 2-3K VW would be more than happy, if we look at numbers of Punto it hardly manages between 1000-1500 per month, so if Polo pulls out 2-3K it would be a ripper.

IMO Polo has a direct competition with I20 and Punto. Whereas figo competes with swift, ritz and vista. Since I have booked a Polo personally I would not like to see streets crowded with Polos, it can get irritating look what happened with Swift, every other car on the street is a swift, bit sore to eyes.

Even my booking was without a TD (I took a Petrol Polo TD and booked a Diesel Car).

I had been to the dealer yesterday. When I booked my car, the delivery was committed by mid May. Now it has been postponed to mid June!

IMO the dealers have given up. They are not in a position to handle this rush. They are waiting for everything to start from VW. VW should have launched this car 2 months later. They are simply not geared up right now. Probably they pulled the trigger being worried about Ford - Figo launch?

Khan75@ Looks like you bought the car instead of renting one!

Or did the sports fixtures spoil the look of the car?

[sheetumanu]

Originally Posted by Chethan B G

Even my booking was without a TD (I took a Petrol Polo TD and booked a Diesel Car).

I had been to the dealer yesterday. When I booked my car, the delivery was committed by mid May. Now it has been postponed to mid June!

IMO the dealers have given up. They are not in a position to handle this rush. They are waiting for everything to start from VW. VW should have launched this car 2 months later. They are simply not geared up right now. Probably they pulled the trigger being worried about Ford - Figo launch?

Khan75@ Looks like you bought the car instead of renting one!

Bang on Chetan, it surely looks like Figo Launch effect. Does anybody have any idea how many POLOs VW plant is capability of producing per month?

The dealers have really been caught offguard with the POLO rush. All my calls (All=3) to the nearest VW dealer got answered by non-designated folks as even the front office personnel were busy attending to customers.

Looks like yours is going to be the first POLO D on tbhp; I am looking forward to the D-review.

[aniketi]

Originally Posted by formel_eins

IMO Polo has a direct competition with I20 and Punto. Whereas figo competes with swift, ritz and vista. Since I have booked a Polo personally I would not like to see streets crowded with Polos, it can get irritating look what happened with Swift, every other car on the street is a swift, bit sore to eyes.

You should have taken Palio then. Its a really rare specie on the road. Just kidding

I also like to have not so common car. But being a very common car you get some advantages like you get service at every corner, spares are available everywhere & spares are at reasonable rate etc.

Originally Posted by Chethan B G

Even my booking was without a TD (I took a Petrol Polo TD and booked a Diesel Car).

I had been to the dealer yesterday. When I booked my car, the delivery was committed by mid May. Now it has been postponed to mid June!

Congrats dude !!! So what is the price for Diesel Polo? Or you just booked the car with some amount?

[Chethan B G]

Originally Posted by aniketi

Congrats dude !!! So what is the price for Diesel Polo? Or you just booked the car with some amount?

Thanks! Booking amount is Rs.50,000/- I have booked a Black one.

On road for diesel highline in Bangalore will cost me Rs.8,25,000/- only (?)

It is really hard to wait once you book a car. Was seriously thinking of Fabio - Ambiance yesterday. My wife does not agree. Since I have a car to drive right now, I can wait. Otherwise it would have been a Fabia by now.

Can anybody through some light on comparison between Polo Highline Diesel and Fabia Ambiance Diesel - barring the engine. Is PD Diesel engine very bad?

[aniketi]

Originally Posted by Chethan B G

Thanks! Booking amount is Rs.50,000/- I have booked a Black one.

On road for diesel highline in Bangalore will cost me Rs.8,25,000/- only (?)

It is really hard to wait once you book a car. Was seriously thinking of Fabio - Ambiance yesterday. My wife does not agree. Since I have a car to drive right now, I can wait. Otherwise it would have been a Fabia by now.

Can anybody through some light on comparison between Polo Highline Diesel and Fabia Ambiance Diesel - barring the engine. Is PD Diesel engine very bad?

OMG 8.25 is way too costly mate for me.

Just today only i seated in my friends Diesel Fabia. Ride looked good but my friend was not happy with the car. AC didnt feel good even at 3 speed. Horn is not working & friend said service people are not able to fix it. Rear windows are also having problems. Door handles inside looks really of cheap plastic. I will recommend dont go for it mate

[formel_eins]

@ Chethan: 8.25 !! thats really expensive mate, are you really going to clock hyper miles on it?? at first even I was planning to buy a diesel, but then I calculated my running, it was coming around 1500km per month, so I did not see a justification to spend for diesel and opted for petrol. But prices in Bangalore seem to be sky high, I had received a quotation for 7.5 for Polo diesel HL

@Aniketi : yes a common car is easy when it comes to maintenance, but if you go for current generation premium cars the failure rates have come down drastically. Most of the times it is minor niggles which pop-up but a complete breakdown is a rarity.

[mkh]

Originally Posted by formel_eins

5K bookings across 40 dealers and in most of the cases even without TD, well thats a commendable performance. And all this considering the fact that it was targeted only at urban audience. Even if it does 2-3K VW would be more than happy, if we look at numbers of Punto it hardly manages between 1000-1500 per month, so if Polo pulls out 2-3K it would be a ripper.

IMO Polo has a direct competition with I20 and Punto. Whereas figo competes with swift, ritz and vista. Since I have booked a Polo personally I would not like to see streets crowded with Polos, it can get irritating look what happened with Swift, every other car on the street is a swift, bit sore to eyes.

None is competing with anyone looks like. swift sales are not down but the Figo is over 7K, tell me who got affected? Figo took away Ikon and Punto numbers on the face of things. I20 maybe a little affected but going by the way VW has understocked, may not be the case.initial sales r only cause of the vw badge

[R17]

Originally Posted by aniketi

Some credit is definitely there. But i would have agreed more if they would have got more than 10 k bookings in that period. Find my comments on your comments:

But you have to understand that anyways only city people are going to buy these costly hatches and not rural people. Do you see any Fabia in rural area? nope.
Diesel is not launched yet but again it is going to be a costly affair considering the petrol polo prices. So i doubt how much it will sell in comparison with Diesel Swift, i20, Punto, Vista & Figo.
VW is not well known in India, agreed but its world famous. So it should have helped.
People are waiting for Swift & i20 & even for Nano, Eeco as well. So i don't see why cant they wait for Polo then. They should have reduced the waiting period & have launched the diesel at the same time. Now they have lost the opportunity with the launch of Petrol & Diesel Figo at the same time.

Again this are my personal opinions. Only time will give the answer

Would like to disagree on pretty much all counts here and if anything your pointers strengthen what Im trying to convey - No offence intended but your estimation of 10k sales is pretty baseless. I mean, you think it would be easier to "agree if VW managed 10k sales" ... lol... ok, so it would be even easier to agree if VW had managed 15k sales... or 100k for that matter... but the point of relevance is

• Sales of 5k in 40 odd days from 40 odd dealerships.
• With literally no coverage in a most of the Tier 2/ Tier 3 cities.
• For a brand which has just entered India and has no recall value.
• For a hatchback that is NOT cheap.
• For a car that hasnt even been fully launched with the diesel launch several months away.
• And for a car which is openly demanding a waiting period of 3 odd months.

Now lets look at the other side - Ford Figo - 10k sales in a similar time frame from 160 dealers for a car which is at least a lakh cheaper across the range and for a brand which has been in India for many, many years now. Also, both petrol and diesel are available right away and neither are there any waiting issues.

I think it would be very difficult to consider this as an unimpressive debut by any rationale. While I'm not ready to stick my neck out yet and comment on your prediction of 2.5-3k monthly sales for the Polo once the euphoria dies down, I am certain that if the Polo actually manages those numbers, VW would consider it a huge success.

[steve82]

@R17 - I infer your calculation is justifiable, We can ompare the cars ( POLO and Figo , both being 1.2) but cannot compare the booking numbers as Ford is quite established as compared to VW. Also VW will attaract a different psyche of customers ( no offence to FIGO).

Also, I've booked a Petrol POLO-CL in Chd. Awaiting eagerly for delivery.
Special Mention - I've been intercating with the SE(s) in CHD as well as New Delhi. The reception and experience was wonderful. I took the TD 3-4 times as the car was available everytime. What i missed out was - chosing a color on the spot in the showroom. I had to look for Websites ( VW home and Team BHP) . Finally booked a Silver. Though White is also an EYE-Cracker.

[poloman]

Good analysis R17. Add to that "only 3 colors available'
VW is underplaying at the moment. No aggressive ads. No promotions. The reason could be it is not economical to sell the Polo in volumes at current prices with out increasing localization. The petrol launch was a soft one to checkmate Figo. It will be a good thing to grab one Polo from the initial lots since most of the parts will be direct import from Germany.
it may be possible for them to sell 2.5-3K Polos every month since they have deep pockets and may resort to mnd blowing promotions to boost sales.