[RavenAvi]

Official Press Release:

Volkswagen India

[Porschefire]

Originally Posted by csnanjappa

Awesome Polo , Ameo and then Vento .

To be honest i would never buy a sub 4m sedan. All the cars are ugly looking , every car(Amaze , Dzire most ugliest looking car, Xcent , Zest) looks ugly and after thought. Some one who just needs a sedan to appease their family or neighbors family would buy a sub 4m sedan. Someone who really likes car would buy Polo or i20 or Jazz or Baleno instead of sub 4m sedans.

I second your thoughts completely! I just do not understand the sub 4m "sedan", "crossover", "UV" and "SUV" classes that have come up in recent times! They are completely pretentious, not very spacious and could as well take part in the 'most ugliest car" contests. Yes, all of them! Most of the top end diesel variants are touching the 10-11Lac barrier now. I mean c'mon, no one in their right frame of mind would spend that money on what is essentially a small car but we're made to because the Indian market has evolved in such a way. I worry for the future when a car like the KUV1OO is termed an "SUV"! Sorry for the OT rant and I do not mean any offence to owners of sub 4m cars here. Heck, my BIL owns an Xcent and the only reason he chose it over the i20 was it was a "sedan"!

Coming back to the Ameo, well, VW had to do it to be in the game. I am not sure about the proposition though. For starters, the Polo is 3970mm in length and the rear isn't what you call, spacious. I don't see how they can liberate extra space inside, extending the length by a mere 30mm. And then comes the pricing bit. Vento was essentially a Polo with a boot and now the Ameo, which is again a Polo with a boot. VW is being very clever here by fooling the Indian customer.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Official Press Release:

Good scoop Avi, looks like the rear has a Skoda Rapid kind of design unlike the plain Vento look. As I said before a hatchback already pushing very, very close to 4000mm cannot have an extended-trunk version. That is best left to models like Grand i10 (3765mm), Brio (3610) which have 9 & 15 inches to spare respectively before the limit is hit.

It is for sure that the front end has been shortened in this model, otherwise the back seat will be non-existent to accommodate the boot. With the styling ALSO very, very similar to Polo minus the side profile I'm only wondering why VW even ventured into this since both will have almost same lengths(Xcent looks quite different from i20 despite same lengths, and Amaze is completely different from Jazz despite same length).

In any case I hope this pleases those who've been waiting for a small car with better storage space from the VW stable. For everything else VW has the TSi.

[durgaprasan]

Hi
I think this move will backfire of VW. Its Vento is a good looking sedan, and Polo a handsome hatch. This ugly duckling will create a bad impression for its siblings in the showroom. I seriously think our obsession with 4 metres has to go. Its resulted in some of the most disgusting looking cars in civillized world, sadly. I was hoping makers like Fiat and VW would buck the trend. Alas.....

[Vik0728]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Official Press Release:

Thank you for sharing the scoop RavenAvi

In my opinion, Audi is the only German manufacturer who can design cars to look like an eye candy in the first instance. Most of the other German designs slowly grows on you and is seldom loved at the first instance.

I have couple of eerie apprehensions about this latest sub-4m entry though:

- 'Ameo' sounds notoriously similar to 'Aveo' !! I hope the similarities end there

- Polo is the most cramped hatch in its segment and Vento is not the most spacious. Where and how will Ameo put up a case for itself?

With manufacturers like Hyundai and Nexa (Suzuki) upping the game in the department of 'Fit & Finish', classy interiors, etc, VW cannot use these characters as USP anymore.

[rajeev k]

Another car to join the Indian CS bandwagon.
Compact Sedan is an Indian invention and this car is an exclusive for India car. Then how come the launch can be termed a Global one.

[volkman10]

Ameo to be unveiled on 2nd Feb 2016.

Ameo is based on the Polo and not a chopped off version of the Vento!

Ameo will be a premium compact Sedan - feature rich and build Quality will be its USP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4fo...ure=youtu.be&a

Source - OD

[Porschefire]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Ameo is based on the Polo and not a chopped off version of the Vento!

Ummm, isn't this a case of poteto, potato?

Originally Posted by volkman10

Ameo will be a premium compact Sedan - feature rich and build Quality will be its USP.

VW being bullish again by calling it a "premium" compact sedan, me thinks! If it is priced in the upper bracket of the CS segment then the Ameo contraption itself hardly makes any sense! And, as Vik0728's already mentioned, 'feature rich' and 'build quality' are hardly the USPs these days with almost all the manufacturers catching up in those departments!

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Porschefire

Ummm, isn't this a case of poteto, potato?

Technically, no. The Ameo's wheelbase is the same as the Polo (Vento has a longer wheelbase). Translated, rear bench space will be as limited as in the Polo.

Using the Polo's wheelbase would've helped them with the sub-4 meter target, and also differentiates the Vento from its cheaper siblings.

[Prafful_Rathod]

Originally Posted by durgaprasan

Hi
I think this move will backfire of VW. Its Vento is a good looking sedan, and Polo a handsome hatch. This ugly duckling will create a bad impression for its siblings in the showroom. I seriously think our obsession with 4 metres has to go. Its resulted in some of the most disgusting looking cars in civillized world, sadly. I was hoping makers like Fiat and VW would buck the trend. Alas.....

Honestly its not the fault of OEMs. Its the govt rule that makes them do this. After all they are here to do business. Plus, Indian buyers are also in love with sub 4m sedans. no matter how good, bad or ugly they look. So I see no reason why they would not follow the trend.

[csnanjappa]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Another car to join the Indian CS bandwagon.
Compact Sedan is an Indian invention and this car is an exclusive for India car. Then how come the launch can be termed a Global one.

This is similar to how they call MLB finals in USA as World series . For them USA and Canada is world for us Indian subcontinent would be Global

On side note I wish Ameo would be best looking car among sub 4m sedans . For me the silver lining from this launch is VW is serious about India and that emission scandal has not had any impact to their future aspiration . Zeroed in tdi-dsg Vento and hopeful that VW A.S.S would get better with Ameo. My guess is eventually Ameo would sell more numbers then Polo and Vento , Our love with sub 4m sedan would never go away .

[durgaprasan]

Yes I agree the govt rule has forced this on manufacturers. My uncle works for a prominent Maruti dealer in Kerala, and ever since the Baleno was launched, people come asking for it instead of the Swift Dzire, according to him. So maybe we didnt have a choice till now, and so we were forced to buy the subcompact sedan.

[RavenAvi]

Rear profile caught completely uncamouflaged:

MotorBeam reader Tejas Bora spotted the car in what looks like a stockyard and the car pictured here is the diesel model because the TDI badging is clearly visible. It is also clearly evident that the Ameo is nothing but a shortened Vento with some tweaks to the styling.

The front of the Volkswagen Ameo is very similar to the Polo but the bumper gets a mild change in design. With the clean and sophisticated design, the side profile looks very clean and well-proportioned. There are no DRLs though (rival Tata Zest has it).

On the inside, the vehicle gets rear AC vents, front centre armrest, touchscreen audio system that can also mirror an Android phone using MirrorLink, auto-dimming IRVM, turn indicators on ORVMs and a very small antenna on the rear of the roof.

The interiors get a black and beige colour theme which is similar to the Polo. The centre console also gets a silver coloured finish. The Volkswagen Ameo also gets a cooled glovebox, reverse parking sensors with a rearview camera, height adjustable driver’s seat and one touch up-down on all four power windows which is a trademark feature of every Volkswagen.

The tyre size is 185/60/R15 and the Ameo will be sharing its engines and transmissions with the Polo.

Seems to borrow boot styling cues from the Rapid (rear numberplate section) and the XCent, but trying to be more proportionate.

Motorbeam

[Vik0728]

Rear profile caught completely uncamouflaged:

I don't know if its the angle of the picture taken or its for real. But, if that is really what its gonna look like, IMO there will be one more quirky looking sedan wannabe on Indian roads.

It looks like a cross between Xcent and Vento !!

I never really liked Rapid/Vento when it was first launched. But in their latest avatars, both OOZE simplicity and class. Polo on the other hand looks sporty.

Ameo may just end up in 'NO MAN's LAND'. But then again, market has loads of Men & Women willing to get into this 'No Man's Land' !!


P.S - IMHO only Hyundai Xcent and Figo Aspire can boast of having the most balanced look in sub 4m category.

[romeomidhun]

This will be the most balanced-looking sub-4m sedan with its low and wide stance, IMO. But that may not translate to sales.