Volkswagen may finally introduce its luxury model in India in 2009. Speculations for Beetle have been doing rounds for some time and company had not given any confirmed statement on the topic. Now, Joery Mueller, President and Managing Director, Volkswagen India, says "Beetle will come here. After strengthening our dealership network, it will come next year."
Volkswagen shall be introducing Beetle as its brand building step in India. Currently, Beetle is being built in Mexico for its worldwide supplies. It shall be imported as a completely built unit in India which may escalate its price due to high duty structure on CBU automobiles.
Volkswagen is investing nearly 580 million Euros in its Chakan plant near Pune in India. Its new plant in Pune shall be the manufacturing hub for its small car – VW Up! It shall also manufacture its hatchback model Polo at its Chakan plant. "The car based on Polo platform will be rolled out from our upcoming plant (in Chakan) by the first half of 2010," says Mueller. Volkswagen also plans to increase its dealership network in the country. It currently has eight dealers in the country and plans to increase it by 15 dealers by the end of the current year.
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