The decision has been taken because the car just doesn’t sell enough in right-hand drive markets.
Volkswagen has confirmed to MotorBeam that it has no plans of bringing the seventh-generation Jetta to India. Not only this, the seventh-generation Jetta won’t be launched in any of the right-hand drive markets that it used to sell in before.
Volkswagen has started selling the seventh-generation Jetta in America and other left-hand drive countries. But they won’t be bringing it to India as by default, the car is made to be a left-hand drive. A right-hand drive version needs further development which costs money. The volumes that the Jetta sells in India simply doesn’t justify the added development and productions costs.
The latest Volkswagen Jetta is based on the very flexible MQB platform which underpins the Golf, (European) Passat and Tiguan among others. Powering the Jetta is a 1.4-litre turbocharged engine that puts out 147 HP and 249.4 Nm of torque. These aren’t racing winning figures but are good enough for city driving and highway overtakes. The interiors too look premium with a dual-tone black and beige finish. There’s a 6.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system while the top two trims get an 8.0-inch system.
It’s sad that the seventh-generation Volkswagen Jetta won’t be coming to India. There might not have been enough takers for this car but there would surely have been people wanting to buy this sedan.
The Volkswagen Group, however, has other plans for India with two SUVs and two C-segment sedans (Volkswagen Virtus and second-generation Skoda Rapid) that will be coming to India at the start of the next decade, underpinned by the Indian specific MQB A0 IN platform.
2019 Volkswagen Jetta India
– The latest, seventh-generation Volkswagen Jetta won’t be launched in India
– Globally, the car is available only as a left-hand drive
– Volkswagen doesn’t have enough sales volume to develop a right-hand drive
