Mumbai, 18 July 2008: Volkswagen, Europe’s largest carmaker, launched its Jetta sedan here on Wednesday. The Jetta sedan would be available in three variants - Magna, Sportz and Asta, and has both petrol as well as diesel variants. The model will retail at Rs 12.97 lakh(ex-showroom Delhi) for petrol variant and Rs 14.22 lakh for the diesel.

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“We are following the top-down strategy and plan to straddle every segment of the Indian car market,” said Mr. Joerg Mueller, President & MD, Volkswagen India, following the launch, and hinted that Volkswagen will be introducing smaller hatchbacks and sedans, sometime by 2010.

Apart from the compact hatchback and sedan variants, VW also plans to launch the Phaeton sedan, a coupe variant of the Passat and the Tiguan sports utility vehicle, and is also considering launching its commercial vehicle (CV) range in the country.

“A team from Volkswagen is expected next week to study the possibility of launching CVs,” Mr.Mueller said. He said that the India-specific small car would be in the premium segment, different from Polo, and its components would be outsourced from Indian suppliers.

The company, which already assembles the Passat sedan at its Aurangabad plant, will start the production of Skoda Fabia at its Chakan plant in 2009.

With sales in developed markets slowing, Volkswagen expects a bulk of its sales to come from China and India where consumers are looking at fuel efficient small cars on the back of high oil prices and strict environmental norms. The company is also increasing its focus on smaller petrol engines with more power and diesel engines, officials said.

Apart from these, the German car maker is also exploring the possibility of launching hybrid and e vehicles in the near future. The company plans to set up 15 dealerships in India this year and 100 by the end of 2011.