Volkswagen India to launch the facelifted Jetta shortly?

The advent of the 2013 Skoda Octavia in India, and the resultant deluge of bookings that the Czech car brand has received within weeks of the car's launch has prompted rivals to pull up their socks. While General Motors India gave the Chevrolet Cruze a mild facelift, the Octavia could face fresh competition from the Volkswagen Jetta. 

Volkswagen India has begun sending out mass emailers detailing the facelifted Jetta sedan. Bookings for the facelifted Jetta are likely to open soon and rumours suggest that the pricing might remain same despite the cosmetic changes and feature additions. Like the Cruze, the facelifted Jetta will come with minor feature additions and cosmetic changes.

The mechanicals of the 2014 Jetta facelift will remain unchanged. The German sedan's major volumes puller will continue with the 2 liter TDI turbo diesel that outputs 140 Bhp-320 Nm. The 1.4 liter turbo petrol engine that outputs 120 Bhp-200 Nm, will continue to serve as the entry level variant in the Jetta range.

The diesel engined Jetta gets two gearbox options: a 6 speed manual and a 6 speed DSG automatic, while the petrol engined variant makes do with a 6 speed manual gearbox. The Jetta is assembled at Volkswagen India's Chakan factory, through the completely knocked down (CKD) kit route.

The Jetta facelift is available with the following new features:

• Climatronic automatic climate control standard on all variants
• Refreshed alloy wheels on Trendline and Comfortline variants
• Headlamp washers on Highline variants
• Xenon headlamps and daytime running LEDs on Highline variants

The Volkswagen Jetta starts at 13.60 lakh rupees, with the top-end TDI highline variant being priced at 18.96 lakh rupees, both prices reflecting ex-showroom Delhi figures. The Jetta competes with the likes of the Toyota Corolla Altis, the Chevrolet Cruze, the 2013 Skoda Octavia, the Hyundai Elantra and the Renault Fluence, in the Indian C+ segment car category.