The Volkswagen Polo has been around for years in the Indian market. In fact, it has been around for a decade with minor facelifts and drivetrain updates. In many international markets, Volkswagen has launched the all-new version of the Polo based on the MQB A0 platform. However, due to the high cost of the platform, Volkswagen did not launch it in India. However, the all-new Polo may just come to India.

Ashish Gupta, Brand Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars India, in an interview with ACI, has confirmed that Volkswagen is seriously planning to launch the new Polo in the Indian market. While not conforming directly, he said “Those evaluations are on”, giving a strong hint on the arrival of the all-new Polo.

The Indian market gets the fifth generation of the Polo. Whole in the international markets, the car has already gone through massive changes and is in its sixth generation. Looking at the growth of the Indian market in the past few years, Volkswagen Group decided a few years ago that it will bring a low-cost variant of the global MQB A0 platform.

The decision gave way to the MQB A0 IN platform, which is a low-cost derivative of the MQB A0 platform and is specifically developed for the Indian market. The all-new Polo for the Indian market will be different from the global markets. It will be based on the MQB A0 IN platform.

Size matters

The sixth-generation Polo is just above the 4-metres in measurement. Due to the sub-4m rule in India, that gives an added advantage to the vehicles below the 4-metres in terms of cost. That is why the Indian version will be very different from the global spec Polo. Volkswagen will launch a sub-4m version of the international-spec Polo to ensure that it gets the tax benefits and the cost remains competitive in the market. The Brand Director did say that it is a possibility on the MQB A0 IN platform.

However, Ashish Gupta also said that there has been a shift in the interest of the customers in the market. Most people look for an SUV instead of a hatchback, which is why even the carmaker is not making the launch of the next-generation Polo a priority. Since the market has shifted majorly towards the SUV, Volkswagen group is doing the same.

Volkswagen has announced a number of SUVs for the Indian market under the SUVW strategy. They want to establish in the SUV segment before shifting focus on the hatchbacks. That being said, Volkswagen is likely to take a couple of years or even more than that to launch the all-new Polo in the Indian market.

Ashish also pointed out that rivals launched premium hatchbacks at significantly higher price brackets and that has opened the doors for Volkswagen too. But we should not be too optimistic about the all-new Polo for the Indian market in the near future.