Team-BHP - Volkswagen to set up plant in Punjab

Wow, volkswagon Fox etc., cars for 400,000 and ranges going to 10 lac? This is going to bring in some serious competion in the market. Good they didnt come in the import route, and will be retaining their reputation of Peoples wagon in India too.

Good decision I would say. And as tsk said, not following the import and CKD units route will definitely pay for them in the near future.
Looks like we finally have a good German company producing cars in India.
Watch out for the German invasion.:Cheering:

I feel the earlier deal which happened in AP is going to take some impact on company's image in India . One thing that crossed my mind was , what will they launch in the 0-1million INR ? With the Skoda Fabia , Skoda Roomster and soon to be launched 1.6 litre 8.5 lac oktavia they will have covered 7-23 lacs segement completely . Passat at 28 lacs doesnt sound very great .New C- Class which will debut may be in 2008 will be far ahead of Passat in quality and brand image, and it would also have eliminated present cars handicap , thats rear leg room. I doubt VW's ability to make cars in the sub 5 lac category..cheap enough to cater to Indian crowd
1.Skoda Fabia - 7 - 9 lacs
2.Skoda Roomster - ???????
3.Skoda Ocktavia 1.6 - 8.5 lacs +
4.Skoda Ocktavia - 11 + - 15.5 lacs
5.Skoda Laura - - 15.5 + - 17 lacs
6.Skoda Superb - - 23.0 - 25 lacs
Or are they setting up the plant to localise Skoda cars to too ???????

It will be interesting to see how VW prices it's cars. They have themselves in a soup by positioning Skoda as a premium brand in India. If they try to price VW higher then Skoda then they end up in Audi territory which means anyone would prefer to put in a couple of thousands more and buy a Audi.

I just feel Rs. 4-4.5 lacs for a Fox would be asking for too much. Too much money for too little car. And where would they position the Polo, if they plan to launch it. The Fabia sedan, which is based on the Polo, is rumored to be launched at about 7-8 lacs. Polo can be positioned against Swift and Getz which means approx 5-6 lacs. A VW cheaper then a Skoda? Ok the Fabia will have a trunk but they still are the same cars.

Review of VW Fox by timesonline UK.

Good news with VW coming is we will finally get fantastic interiors in budget cars. No one does interiors better then VW/Audi!

Punjab as compared to other states is what you mean?
How come logistics will cost more!
If you are talking about transportation costs, then since punjab and delhi buy the most number of vehicles(Infact ludhiana is called the merc capital) having a factory in some other part will lead to more costs than Punjab

The VW plant mystery continues! Economic Times reports that VW may set up a plant in Bengal! Are they serious? Pumping in a few million euro's in the home of the leftists. But I guess after dealing with the German unions, VW officials are probably experts in dealing with difficult unions. :)

Volkswagen plans India plant - magazine
Sat Aug 26, 2006 4:30 PM IST

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German carmaker Volkswagen plans to invest up to 400 million euros ($511.1 million) to set up a plant in India, Der Spiegel magazine reported.
The firm's supervisory board will make a decision on the move at a meeting next month, though it is not expected to be contested, the magazine said.
"As is known, VW is examining entry into the Indian market. We are not commenting on further details," a Volkswagen spokesman said on Saturday.
The plant would enable Volkswagen to capitalise on growing demand in India, where high customs duties make importing cars from Europe less appealing.
[SIZE=1][COLOR=#666666]© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.[/COLOR][/SIZE]

VW's entry will bode well for Indian customers especially in the super mini category & upwards. They have pretty well leveraged their Golf platform to roll out multiple cars like the Golf, Audi A3, VW jetta etc.
I am sure their diesel technology based cars, will provide the required boost for their prospective sales.