Volkswagen Beetle launched in India at Rs 21 lakh

It’s a big launch from Volkswagen. The new edition of the Beetle car is now in India.

The New Beetle has been launched with 115 bhp, 2.0-litre petrol engine. Adding to the comfort and ease of use will be the 6-speed automatic gearbox. The charm and appeal of the New Beetle nevertheless remains with its classic styling, inspired by the original people?s car that went on to become the best selling car of a single design in the world in its decades long run.

The New Beetle was introduced internationally in 1998 and has been a success ever since. In fact it was the car that can be credited with kicking off the retro-chic segment, in which modern and comfortable interpretations of long standing classic cars are making a rapid resurgence as fashion statements. Amongst these are the MINIs, and the Fiat 500 which is already on sale in India.

Beetle is a very popular car. It has finally been launched in India. It will give competition to the Fiat 500, which has received with quite a good response with the consumers now. We were expecting the Beetle to be priced anywhere between Rs 15-20 lakh. It is priced at Rs 21 lakh for Delhi. However, it would costlier in Mumbai.

The company Volkswagen has also surprised us with another launch which is of the Touareg SUV. It will cost about Rs 52 lakh ex-showroom Delhi. Hence, there are two big launches coming in from Volkswagen. They are betting big as far as the numbers are concerned.

While the company is tight-lipped, they are hoping to do about 500 units a year. This is quite an ambitious target as far as Beetle sales are concerned. Right now, it has manufactured only in Mexico from all over the world. The company says that if they touch about 2,000 units a year, they will look at a possibility of assembling it here in India.