As part of the ‘India 2.0’ project, Skoda took charge of the development of future Volkswagen Group cars for the Indian market. All Volkswagen and Skoda models that will be designed and manufactured in India will underpin the new MQB A0-IN platform. The Skoda Kushaq and VW Taigun mid-size SUVs are the first products to be based on the India-specific MQB A0-IN architecture, followed by the Skoda Slaiva and the upcoming Volkswagen Virtus.
According to a fresh media report, Volkswagen is working on the sub-4 metre SUV for India. Though, the final decision on entering the segment is yet to be taken. Klaus Zellmer, Board Member for Sales, Marketing and After Sales at Volkswagen Passenger Cars has revealed that Skoda aims to increase its market share and a subcompact SUV will certainly help the automaker to tap the highly-competitive market.
With monthly sales of over 50,000, the sub-4 meter SUV segment currently holds a 15 percent market share in the passenger vehicle segment. Klaus Zellmer further states that Volkswagen is working on a sub-4 metre SUV. However, the company will first observe the market opportunities for the upcoming model. If launched, the new Volkswagen compact SUV will take on the Hyundai Vnue, Kia Sonet, Tata Nexon and Maruti Suzuki Brezza.
In other updates, Volkswagen India is gearing up to unveil the Virtus on 8th March 2022 in the country. The model will see a release in May 2022. Similar to the Kushaq and VW Taigun, the Volkswagen Virtus will sit on the MQB A0-IN platform and come the 1.0L, 3-cylinder turbo petrol and 1.5L, 4-cylinder TSI petrol engine options. While the former returns a claimed power of 108bhp and 175Nm of torque, the latter one makes 147bhp and 250Nm of torque.
Transmission units are likely to be sourced from the new Taigun including a 6-speed manual (standard), a 6-speed torque convertor automatic (with 1.0L petrol engine only) and a 7-speed DSG automatic (with 1.5L petrol engine only.
Info Source – carandbike
