Volkswagen readies for Indian medium car space

New Delhi, Nov 29: Bouyed by the buzz in the Indian small and medium car market, Europe's largest car maker Volkswagen will roll out its 'Passat' model in June-July even as its second manufacturing unit at an investment of Rs 2,450 crore begins operation by 2009.

The model, to be priced below Rs 30 lakh, seeks to target the current leaders in the mid-size car space like Maruti, Hyundai and Indica.

''We do not want to wait till 2009 to enter India. We will step-by-step scale up in the most lucrative segment of the market and thus offer Passat by mid-next year. The cost calculations for the model are still on. But it will be available at a level of below Rs 30 lakh in line with the competition,'' Volkswagen AG Chief Financial Officer Hans Dieter Potsch told reporters here.

The second manufacturing facility at Chakan in Pune will manufacture the Indianised verison of the group's 'Polo' model, which is already avaiable in Europe.

The new plant with press, body and paint shops and assembly lines spread across 230 hectares at Chakan industrial park, will commence production in 2009 with a capacity of 1,10,000 units.

UNI