Volkswagen India: The Way Forward

[ANewExperience]

Originally Posted by mishraak

Dealers seem to be taking initiative for existing customers as well, last to last week my dealer VW Motinagar called offering couple movie tickets for the movie "Dum Laga ke Haisha" for PVR Naraina, which I had to decline due to examination dates of my daughter.

This week they have mailed a free car wash coupon which can be availed by appointment at their workshop.

Seems they are willing to make "happy" customers, may be "satisfied" customers is also next on the cards.

Originally Posted by Poloprasad

Hello BHPian

In chennai we are so unfortunate to have offers like movie tickets. Anyways its a good initiative by VW. Hoping dealers in chennai watch this thread and send some coupons / tickets to my address.

My uncle has a VW vento and recently took it for service in Chennai. He had the ac vents broken for long time and was delaying to change it because of its high cost and lack of guarantee for the new ones. However, this time when i got inside the car, he was all smiling at me and noticed that he had replaced it.

When i asked him why, he said the reception and assurances made by service personnel were so much improved and convincing. So, Poloprasad, it might be right time to update your latest contact information at the dealership. Who knows, you might find some coupons in your mail box soon.

[mishraak]

Ok, Another thing done by my service center.

Yesterday I went to service center for a stuck cigarette lighter issue. On way back the manager gave me a 2015 Planner/Diary and clicked a photo of the event.

On reaching back office I received a call from them that they are sponsoring couple entry passes for "Adventure Island" a water park in Rohini.

Great isn't it.

[sleepyk]

Damn.... They're going all out.
Next they'll be doing service melas like Maruti and Tata. Hope they teach some of this to Skoda as well. 😜

[chase_nt]

I just came to know some really disheartening information. Apparently there is no Volkswagen dealership or authorized service station in Visakhapatnam anymore. The previous dealership/service station ATR cars Visakhapatnam was wound up a few months ago. So basically what this means is that i have to go halfway across the state of AP to the next closest service station which is in Guntur (380 kms away from Visakhapatnam) in order to service my vehicle. This is nothing but outrageous. If i were living in a small town or village that does not deserve to have a VW dealership/service station due to low sales volumes i can understand however the city i live in was the 2nd largest city in undivided AP and at the moment its the largest city in residuary AP. Heck even a company such as Fiat has a service station in Visakhapatnam despite the fact that there are an abysmally low number of Fiat cars on the roads of this city. I hardly put 1000 kms a year on my car and i need to go on a road trip of 800 odd kilometers in order to get it serviced??

Even if i am ok to drive all that distance just to get my car serviced once every year what if my car has some sort of mechanical failure that requires the requisite parts or what happens if my car is involved in an accident and it needs to be fixed. I guess in the event of such an occurrence i will have to hire a flat bed truck to transport it half way across the state to get it repaired. I always wanted to buy a used sports car such as a Lancer Evo or Nissan 350Z etc and i even contemplated getting a new Mini Cooper S a few years ago however i dropped all thoughts of such acquisitions just because of issues related to lack of service stations to service such cars in Visakhapatnam. The fact that i would have to service such vehicles in Hyderabad and i would be in soup (since i live in Visakhapatnam) if something were to ever go wrong with such cars always put me off. Its just ridiculous that i am having to go through the same prospect after purchasing a VW. I called the customer care number yesterday and all they could do was either apologize or suggest that i go to the nearest service station half way across the state. They even have no idea when a service station would be opened in my town. The next time i purchase a car i guess i will just stick to the time tested Suzuki or Hyundai because you can find service stations for those cars anywhere in India.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by chase_nt

I just came to know some really disheartening information. Apparently there is no Volkswagen dealership or authorized service station in Visakhapatnam anymore.
...
I called the customer care number yesterday and all they could do was either apologize or suggest that i go to the nearest service station half way across the state. They even have no idea when a service station would be opened in my town. The next time i purchase a car i guess i will just stick to the time tested Suzuki or Hyundai because you can find service stations for those cars anywhere in India.

That is quite a difficult situation to be in. Could it be that some other company has taken over the VW dealership for the city and has delayed getting it up and running? This kind of scenario happened for us in the city of Calicut in Kerala, where the Honda showroom and service center closed down and the new dealership opened only after ~3-4 months. Unfortunately at this time we had an issue with the Brio we had (Rats chewed through the wires) and had to wait more than 2 months for the new dealer to open.

[Vishyvish]

Originally Posted by chase_nt

I just came to know some really disheartening information. Apparently there is no Volkswagen dealership or authorized service station in Visakhapatnam anymore. The previous dealership/service station ATR cars Visakhapatnam was wound up a few months ago.

Did you check if the dealership has changed hands??
Happened in Mumbai too, when the Mumbai West dealership changed hands in December. Had a nasty experience then due delayed registration of the vehicle. The new showroom just opened last month and the workshop couple of weeks back, so its quite likely that the whole process takes quite some time till the new dealer; if any, could start shop. However that does not mean existing Customers should suffer. Take up the matter in writing with customer care at VW.

[acidkill]

Being a VW owner i find a lot of the positives in their product.

The positives are
1. Overall hardiness and tank like build
2. Awesome diesel engine (1.6 TDI)
3. Quality of plastics and interior (albeit a little bland in design)
4. General ergonomics

My few bits to them would be

1. Develop a momentum of product launches. You have so many products that are a fit for India - The Touran, The Tiguan, The Voyage. Why not start launching away? The more segments that you are present in, the more your cars are in the reckoning. Just being in the C segment is not going to give stellar volumes
2. VW does have tailor made products for China and Brazil alike. Why not India?
3. Dont skimp on creature comforts in your cars. The first VW i bought had a low budget MID and a music system that could not play anything but CD's.

[chase_nt]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

That is quite a difficult situation to be in. Could it be that some other company has taken over the VW dealership for the city and has delayed getting it up and running?

Nope. There is no dealer or service station in Visakhapatnam anymore. There is no word on when a new dealer/service station will be appointed for this city. I only came to know about this when an acquaintance called me to inquire about my experience with my previous car and when i suggested he go for a Volkswagen he informed me that there is no dealer or service station in town anymore and that was corroborated by the VW customer care. Its such a disconcerting situation to be in.

Originally Posted by Vishyvish

Did you check if the dealership has changed hands?? However that does not mean existing Customers should suffer. Take up the matter in writing with customer care at VW.

Yes i did check and they said that the dealership was closed down. I didn't inquire about the reason as i was too flabbergasted at that time. I just cant understand what all the other customers from this town are going to do now. I'm just perturbed about what to do in case something goes wrong and this is the only vehicle that i own.

[Aditya]

Volkswagen's upcoming Polo-based compact sedan has been spotted in India. Click here to join the conversation.

[volkman10]

VW looking at the compact SUV segment, seem to tag along the pending decision on the China - and branding for emerging market.

We are tracking all the segments and we do have products internationally that will fit in this segment, and we take time to analyse and come up with solutions for each of the segment. This segment is being looked at but no concrete plans at the moment.

http://motoroctane.com/news/12891-vo...g-concrete-yet

[govindremesh]

Here's my take on the title:

I've visited a VW showroom 3 times at different dealerships in different state. I've never ever faced any issue with the customer service in their showroom.

Infact, my fist visit was in Mumbai as a college kid. They only had Beetle,Passat and Jetta then. I made it clear that I was not there to buy a car but just checking out what VW was all about.

The sales advisor took 2 hours of his time to give me a live demo of why only a VW can build a VW

I do not know about the service, but as far as their products go, they need to do a small rejig. For example, not offering TSI with a manual gearbox, or not offering a 10 year warranty like in China is too bad, as the Indian consumer feels being discriminated.

Further, VW service centers should display a list of standard service and spare charges publicly in the waiting room and make it available in the service app. This will kill the myth that a VW is horribly expensive to maintain.

VW is a manufacturer with a lot of potential and should be performing far better than it is now in India.

[shasha]

IMHO, the Problem lies with the dealership. The VW doesn't use iron hand on its dealers and dealers misuse it by fleecing the customers. Customer does get his due in case of already well known dealers who have been dealing with the Japanese / Korean cars also. It is mostly the new and also the exclusive dealers of VW who flourish with malpractices. Introduction, explanation , reception , waiting area- all are top class , but in the core there is some undefinable , foul smelling garbage. We don't get to feel the sincerity which is easily palpable with the Japanese car's dealers. But, Dealers apart, my love for the VW cars has never diminished 😊. Wish their after sales service was like Toyota - what a deadly combination it would be!

[volkman10]

VW confirms its 4 new products for India by 2017 - still evaluating the Compact Cross over segment , could debut late 2017.

1. Passat B8 -

The large luxury saloon will take on the likes of the recently updated Toyota Camry and the new Skoda Superb that is expected in Q3 2015. Expected to sit at a higher price point than the outgoing Passat, the B8 will also tread into the territory of the entry-level compact luxury cars like the Audi A3 and the Mercedes-Benz CLA.

2. New Compact Sedan - Though very late in this segment, the volume seems to be the driver.

Volkswagen believe that their car will be able to offer better quality and features than the rest. The compact sedan is based on the same platform that underpins the Vento and the Polo and will use similar engines too – a 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol and a 1.5-litre four-cylinder diesel.for the development in this segment.

3.New Bettle -

Volkswagen don’t expect big numbers from the Beetle, but believe that their Indian showrooms deserve to have the halo car.

4. New Tiguan -

It will rival cars like the Toyota Fortuner, the upcoming 2016 Ford Endeavour and compact luxury crossovers like the Audi Q3 and the Mercedes-Benz GLA.

http://overdrive.in/news/volkswagen-...india-by-2017/

[avira_tk]

Originally Posted by volkman10

VW confirms its 4 new products for India by 2017 - still evaluating the Compact Cross over segment , could debut late 2017.

1. Passat B8 -

2. New Compact Sedan - Though very late in this segment, the volume seems to be the driver.


3.New Bettle -

4. New Tiguan -

http://overdrive.in/news/volkswagen-...india-by-2017/

The Passat is going to be priced near the C/A4/3 price range as VW wants to "go higher", I think the Superb is going to outsell it as usual, space is not the Passat's strength and the chauffer driven customer isn't going to worry about the quality of plastics on the dash , Passat being slightly better in this department.

The Tiguan is a CRV competitor although by 2017 Honda could be way ahead with a diesel CRV/HRV, the other two and dead on arrival. VW seems to be headed the Fiat way unless they bring in a compact SUV really soon.

[amit]

I don't know how they are going to push Passat up to the 3 German's and expect it to sell in decent volumes. The B8 maybe a bigger car high on space & packed with technology but it lacks the brand muscle of the Mercs, Audi's & BMW's. The new Superb is also a hot looker and therefore wouldn't be a pushover for the Passat. Most likely, the tradition of the Superb hammering the Passat at the sales charts will continue with the new generations too.

VW in Europe is about affordable luxury but for their bad luck, Skoda have taken that mantle in India leaving VW with having to do a tight rope walk between affordability & luxury. VW have a very narrow margin of higher price to play with. Price their cars a little less and they fall into the Skoda, Toyota category. Punch a little higher and they will be hammered by the 3 German's. Best way is to pick your side and battle it out. I think they have a far better chance of success if they fight it out with Toyota & Skoda.