Budget cars are the buzz of the day. Every automaker is shifting its focus towards the middle-level income groups who aspire to buy a car but are constrained by the cost involved. Introducing the low cost variants has become one of the most important decisions to be taken by the car-makers. Even the German luxury car-makers are coming up with entry level cars which cannot be called as ‘budget cars’ but are indeed cheaper than their costlier counterparts.
Following the trend, Volkswagen too has decided to do something on these lines. The European car-maker has plans of launching a budget car and indeed a budget car as it will be priced at USD 6500 which as per today’s exchange rate would amount to just Rs. 3.36 lakhs. The car would be targeted to mostly the emerging markets like south-east Asia or Africa. However, for countries like India and China, vehicles along the lines of Volkswagen Up! will be launched.
The company feels that they will not have to spend a lot on the technology to come up with the budget car as the parts from the existing range can be used to develop the same. The management is confident about launching this budget car in the next two years. Moving into this segment would be a big step for the company as it’s hardly present here. By the end of this year, the management has plans to submit a plan on entering the low-cost car market to the board of directors.
Source – The Indian Express
