VW to drive ‘Beetle’ in India; looks to push brand

German carmaker Volkswagen plans to drive in its iconic car ‘Beetle’ in India as it looks to strengthen presence in the country.”Beetle is an iconic brand and the profile of the customer the world over for this car is upwardly mobile and well travelled and those who wants to be different. We see a segment of those customers in India,” Volkswagen Passenger Cars India Managing Director Makham Dhalivaal said.He said Beetle could be used as a part of the brand building exercise that Voklswagen plans to undertake in India.”It (Beetle) has a positive hallow effect on other brands,” he added.Asked by when the Beetle could be launched in India, Dhalivaal declined to give a definite timeframe but said: “It could be in the medium term.”

Beetle is now manufactured in Mexico for VW’s worldwide supplies and could come to India through the completely built unit import route.Buoyed by the overwhelming response to the newly launched sedan Jetta, Dhalivaal said the company expects order of about 1,200 units by the end of this year.”Also we are confident of selling about 500-600 Passat (the upper end sedan) this year,” he added.On the response to the Jetta, he said the company has received 3,932 contacts asking about the car from different cities in India.He said the firm is bullish about the Indian market and is looking at bringing in a number of other products, like Passat CC and its SUV range.”Also, next year we are bringing in our sedan Phaeton,” he said.VW plans to launch its compact car based on the Polo platform in two variants ? hatchback and sedan ? once it starts production at its Chakan plant in Maharashtra.”We are planning to have 15 dealers this year and 70 by next year and eventually it will go up to 120 in few years,” he said, adding in this way the company would be covering all the major Tier I, II and III cities across the country.

Courtesy: Times of India

Related posts:

1. Clutter-breaking and innovative campaigns from VW On Christmas Eve, Volkswagen Group Sales India launched a trailblazer in Mumbai. This comes close on the heels of its...
2. VW creates new benchmarks in brand promotion As The Times of India readers picked up Monday’s (8-3-2010)special edition, they could not possibly miss the pages cut out...
3. Volkswagen confident of doing well in India “The Nano is a unique answer to the needs and aspirations of the vast majority of Indians. I think it’s...
4. Big leap from VW India The world’s third largest car maker is all set to make a splash in India with a slew of launches.Volkswagen...
5. Maruti eyes emerging mkts to push sales Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) is eyeing emerging markets such as Africa, Algeria, Latin America, Chile, Egypt and West Asia...