[Stratos]

Amidst the Cricket World Cup fever, Volkswagen joined hands with Indian Premier League to become their official partner for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. To commemorate this partnership, VW launched the IPL Edition model of the Vento today. VW took a poll amongst the Indian population as to which sport would they like the company to be associated with and bang came the answer, "Cricket" at 85% support.



The new car was unveiled today by Mr. Neeraj Garg - Member of Board and Director, VW Passenger Cars, Mr. Sundar Raman - CEO, Indian Premier League and Mr. Lutz Kothe - Head of Marketing and PR VW Group Sales Pvt. Ltd.



The IPL Edition Vento comes with:

- State-of-the-art touch screen music system with built in micro SD, USB Interface, Navigation System, Ipod & Bluetooth connectivity, interface for parking CCD/ RSE/, NTSC or PAL compatibility.

- The leatherette seats have IPL batsman motifs embroidered to them. The same logo / sticker has been put on the exterior (C-Pillar, Boot) and on the steel-finish door sills as well. Even the floor mats have an IPL logo.

- Above all, the car comes with an IPL and VW branded cricket bat and ball.

Surprisingly, the Vento IPL Edition is only available with the 1.6 litre Petrol engine that you get in the regular Vento. Prices start at Rs. 7.24 lakhs (ex-showroom Delhi). It is sure to hit the base versions of the Vento which go around Rs 6.99 lakhs but might boost the sluggish sales of the petrol variant.

Sales will only start once the IPL Season begins in the first week of April 2011. This special edition will be available for two years since that is the current contract deal of VW and IPL. For almost Rs.25,000 more, the Vento IPL Edition is worth the upgrade from the base model but the unavailability of the diesel variant is sure to sadden some potential diesel Vento buyers.

(From L- R)Mr. Sundar Raman, Mr. Neeraj Garg, Mr. Lutz Kothe addressing the press

[naveen.raju]

VW India launched Vento IPL Edition today. Here are the features:

1) IPL logo around the car - C-pillar, front seats, scuff plates, door mats and the boot lid
2) A state-of-the-art touchscreen multimedia player: Colour touch screen; FM/ AM; i-pod control through touchscreen; Built-in micro SD and mini USB interface, supports MP3/ WMA; Built-in Navigation System; Interface for parking CCD/ RSE/ Bluetooth; NTSC or PAL compatibility
3) Free cricket bat and ball

No ABS and airbags though.

The Vento IPL edition will be priced at Rs. 7.24 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), which places it one notch higher than the Vento petrol base model which lies at Rs. 6.99 lakh. The car will be sold through all the 71 Volkswagen dealerships on the country.

[mkh]

Find it hard to understand the rationale behind this IPL edition? Vento is a great product on its own, why bring that IPL angle?
Anyways, sometimes its really hard to fathom the marketing brains that sit and churn out such things, everything has takers anyways, so some folks may buy just for the free bat, LOL

[theragingbull]

For just Rs.25,000 extra, those are a lot of goodies VW is offering. Leather seats and a touchscreen multimedia player with SatNav will itself cost more than 50k!! Is this a limited stock edition by any chance? Available only in petrol or is there a diesel variant too?

[naveen.raju]

I know it's a bargain considering the new HU and Leather seats. It might be of limited numbers.

[iceman7]

What is the IPL edition Vento going to do? Play cricket

But seriously, given the long waiting periods, will VW be able to deliver the Limited editions before/during the IPL?

Is VW a big sponsor for the IPL?

[maxbhp]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

VW India launched Vento IPL Edition today. Here are the features:

1) IPL logo around the car - C-pillar, front seats, scuff plates, door mats and the boot lid
2) A state-of-the-art touchscreen multimedia player: Colour touch screen; FM/ AM; i-pod control through touchscreen; Built-in micro SD and mini USB interface, supports MP3/ WMA; Built-in Navigation System; Interface for parking CCD/ RSE/ Bluetooth; NTSC or PAL compatibility
3) Free cricket bat and ball

No ABS and airbags though.

The Vento IPL edition will be priced at Rs. 7.24 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), which places it one notch higher than the Vento petrol base model which lies at Rs. 6.99 lakh. The car will be sold through all the 71 Volkswagen dealerships on the country.

Wow ,thats one big complement for the marketers of IPL. I think the last time we had one in India is from Opel ie.,Astra - World cup edition.

I don't feel this was required. It anyway had no problem with sales. World Cup edition would have made better sense. Probably they might have some plans for being the mammoth sponsor for IPL.

Either way right now I think they should be sorting out Product quality niggles + increasing parts localization + Reducing spares price + Tightening delivery schedules.
This doesn't seem to make sense at the moment.

PS : The marketing team in Volkswagen seem to be overworking. If someone is here from Volkswagen , It would be a good time to slow the train. Their talking AD was ++++

[evilshantanu]

Maybe initially to boost the sales, this is an angle to bring in a rebadged "comfortline"

If you see that car doesnt have ABS and Airbags. So it falls perfectly in the comfortline shoes

[naveen.raju]

Here are more pics. Courtesy Autocar

[volkman10]

Truly for IPL fans, personally would not like to have the IPL logo along with the Vento, stamped permanently.

Cheers,

[bluevolt]

What IPL got to do with VW Vento? Instead they could have come up with ICC world cup edition, though a new concept by the company.
PS - Will there be cheerleaders in VW showrooms from now on?

[VW2010]

Do we have really have fans who will buy car in the name of IPL?

I wish they said something about after sales service. The world outside maruthi is still crappy when it comes to A.S.S.

I only pray we dont have IPL fans in our team BHP who will buy a car that IPL logo

[amitwlele]

No way personally i would buy a car with an IPL Logo on it. What is the point? Does VW really need to hop on to this IPL madness. Really beats me what is the objective.

Maybe they should have given it a IPL kind of name as well just like the team names

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by maxbhp

World Cup edition would have made better sense. Probably they might have some plans for being the mammoth sponsor for IPL.

Originally Posted by bluevolt

What IPL got to do with VW Vento? Instead they could have come up with ICC world cup edition, though a new concept by the company.

IPL is Indian. World Cup is one where there are 11 other nations. IPL is ours; I think IPL is a much better bet than the World Cup.

Originally Posted by volkman10

Truly for IPL fans, personally would not like to have the IPL logo along with the Vento, stamped permanently.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by VW2010

Do we have really have fans who will buy car in the name of IPL?

We Indians lose every aspect of rationale and reason when it comes to cricket - so I bet there are tons who'd want to buy it!


Remember the Sachin Tendulkar autographed Fiat Palio. People who own it are mighty proud of that.

The marketing gimmick will work.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

No ABS and airbags though.

The Vento IPL edition will be priced at Rs. 7.24 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), which places it one notch higher than the Vento petrol base model which lies at Rs. 6.99 lakh. The car will be sold through all the 71 Volkswagen dealerships on the country.

Quite a strange move from VW. Is this to say that IPL fans does not believe in safety?