Volkswagen eyes mass market with Vento

Mood at the India office of Europe’s largest carmaker Volkswagen is upbeat. And why not, the company has just commercially launched its second mass-market model—Vento here.

It has priced the 1.6 litre petrol Vento (in Delhi) at Rs 699,000 and Rs 823,000. The 1.6 litre diesel models come with a price tag of Rs 799,000 and Rs 923,000.

“I feel I have done everything right with the Vento, including the packaging. It’s a value for money and am confident about it,” member of board and director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Volkswagen Group Sales India, Neeraj Garg, said.

Vento, which is the sedan version of the Polo hatchback, will have to sweat it out in an intensely competitive mid-size segment.
The Vento will compete with Maruti Suzuki’s Swift Dzire and SX4, General Motor’s Chevrolet Aveo, Tata Motors’ Indigo, Hyundai Verna and Honda’s City models.

With the pricing of the Vento, Volkswagen has not only undercut the Honda City by a fair margin, but it has also brought Maruti Suzuki’s SX4 and the Hyundai Verna in its firing range.

While the 1.5 litre petrol City is priced (in Delhi) between Rs 813,500-Rs 905,500 for the manual transmission and Rs 977,500 for the automatic, Hyundai sells its 1.6 litre petrol Verna Transform model in Rs 656,364-750,869 range.

Maruti Suzuki’s 1.6 litre petrol SX4 is priced in the range of Rs 691,874 to Rs 767,041.

The Vento also has the Fiat Linea on its radar with the Italian model being sold for Rs 641,523-Rs 734,118 in Delhi.

While the City, Verna Transform, SX4 and the Linea form the upper strata of the C-segment (midsize) market, the bottom of the pyramid is occupied by Dzire, Aveo and the Indigo Manza.

“The leader of the segment is the Honda City, which holds almost 48% of the market, and we think we have done a fairly good job with our pricing,” Garg said.

Asked what kind of customer response does the company envisage for the Vento, he said it was too early to say.
While the Vento’s solid build and powerful engine would work to its advantage, look-wise it is no attention grabber.

The car looks exactly the same as the Polo and only the boot has been nicely glued to the rear.

The other issue that may plague the Vento is the current capacity crunch at Volkswagen’s India unit.

The capacity at company’s Chakan unit, where the Vento and the Polo are being made, is being ramped up to achieve peak production of 110,000 cars per year.

The Polo model has been severely hit by what the company describes component shortages and quality issues with some of its vendors.

The Polo currently has a waiting period of almost three to four months.

Dealers say the production delay is helping rivals with customers opting for more readily available brands.