VW to cut price, add feature to its Polo, Vento range

With the festive season around the corner & the auto sector facing a downturn Volkswagen India is all set to launch refreshed versions of its Polo hatchback & Vento sedan, adding more features & cutting prices on the top highline variants. The petrol Polo in highline spec will be Rs 40,000 cheaper while the top-end diesel Vento will save Rs 30,000.

Below is the edited transcript of Arvind Saxena, managing director, Passenger cars, Volkswagen India’s interview to CNBC-TV18.
Arvind Saxena says that Indian by nature are more value conscious and so are the people all over the world but Indian are slightly more and that’s where I think a current offering, which we are trying to prepare ourselves for the festive time would be very great value because we have refreshed from the features point of view. We also realigned our prices to some extent because over the years since we launched our product the price positioning has changed with the newer models and newer offerings. It a type of re-alignment. Q: Some of the other competitors in the market like Honda are very clear that they are now going to focus on the hatchbacks perhaps at the cost of the sedan end of the market. For VW, right now how crucial is the fact that VW doesn't have a presence in the entry-level hatchback segment and will you be addressing this issue going forward?
A: It is too early to make a comment that how we plan our product going ahead. It would take time for me to understand that are the feature offerings but there is an opportunity present. Q: Where do you see the Indian auto market as a whole going in the next quarter and over the rest of this year?
A: Next quarter is not going to be any great because if you really look at the fundamental drivers of automobile business, they are not going to change positive in the next three months. Interest rate we all have been waiting for long time, nothing has happened. Gasoline or diesel prices are still very firm. Q: You have seen the exchange rate, the rupee taking a battering over the last six to eight months, how has that affected things for Volkswagen in India?
A: It is making things really challenging on the financial side. I think we are at a stage where we need to look at the market driven kind of prices rather than really cost prices.