VW wants to bring the Polo GTI hot hatch to India but is concerned about its pricing. Right now, import duties and the car’s MQB platform could make it expensive. What it could also do is wait two years till the local MQB platform (MQB A0 IN) is developed in India.
The Polo GTI was imported and launched in November 2016, but it’s cost was expensive – at Rs 26 lakh, the company only managed to sell the first lot of 100 units quickly, the second batch, however, had to be discounted towards the end. The company believes that its steep pricing was the issue and that if priced right, this car could do really well. The VW Group also recently announced a plan to make a low-cost version of the modular MQB A0 platform, dubbed the MQB A0 IN.
For now, VW is deciding whether to bring in the import now and later move to local production.