Thursday, April 26, 2012
By Pawan Rana
Volkswagen CNG cars to come into picture
Volkswagen had cut the prices of Volkswagen Vento and Volkswagen Polo by up to Rs. 1 Lakh to compete with rivals. This helped them cross monthly sales from 5,000 units to 10,000 units. Yet, it is to be noted that offers like price cuts with free insurance could not raise the sales figure if VW Polo. Now, the premium car company has decided to do away with these strategies and plans to concentrate on their after sales processes and introducing CNG variants of their cars. Volkswagen has no plans to expand its product portfolio this year unlike Hyundai, Maruti and GM and has to rely solely on its existing cars and strategic plans to increase sales further. It is also not in a position to offer any more discount due to their brand positioning.
| See More Volkswagen Vento Photos | Get Volkswagen Vento Price |
It is to be noted that despite all means, the sales figures remained around 3,500 units a month as against Maruti Swift’s sales figures of 20,000 units a month. These figures tell their story and officials at VW have realized that they are unable to keep pace with industry leaders. The German auto major is facing serious troubles in coming out of this situation despite of doing extensive marketing and offering freebies and price cuts on their cars. Yet, the sale figures of Volkswagen cars in India have been disappointingly low. Polo and Vento were slowly manufactured and took up to nine months for delivery. So despite of all the allied offers, buyers deterred from purchasing them.
| See More Volkswagen Polo Photos | Get Volkswagen Polo Price |
So improving their after sales processes and customer interaction might greatly help. If they improve dealer interaction, service center networks and offer an additional fuel option as inexpensive as CNG, they believe that will go in their favor.
The sales of VW cars have rose by only 2 % in time elapsed from January to March while the industry average rests at 21%. As per the officials, the new strategies which will now be executed will not only push their sales from 7000 units per month to higher side but also enhance faith for their brand in India. Alongside, they have to accomplish their ambitious plan of selling 1 million cars under Volkswagen Group in India by 2018.
