Volkswagen’s city car, the Up has been spotted in Pune. And it’s not just any Up, but one with a specification and trim level that could be ideal for the Indian market. Interestingly, the car spotted featured no camouflage, and as can be seen in the pictures, is one that has four doors and quite a basic level of trim.
What’s also interesting is that the Up has no alloys, no power mirrors, no body coloured door handles and even wind-up windows. This basic trim is called the ‘Take Up’ in markets like the UK, where it is already on sale.
What these spy shots also prove is that Volkswagen could still be looking at getting the Up to India. The car looks like it might have come straight out of a customer clinic, where potential customers of a car are actually shown what it looks like to gauge their reaction and help the manufacturer price the car.
The Up is available with a 3-cylinder engine in two states of tune - 59bhp and 74bhp, and there is likely to be a diesel soon. The current engines are mated to a five-speed manual gearbox. If Volkswagen decides to bring this car to India, they will most likely delete key features to bring down the cost. However, the superior build quality and Euro feel should be enough to entice customers. The car will also share its platform with cars like the Skoda CitiGo, and the Skoda may also make it to the Indian market in the future, especially if the VW group wants to keep costs down.
Eventually, VW are likely to get the saloon version of the Up - as well as other variants on the same platform to India. What the Up is likely to do, if it finally does make it here, is seriously raise the bar for other cars in its class.
Image source: ICB
Suraj Viswanathan
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