There has been a lot of talk in recent years about VW entering the budget car market, where models rarely exceed four-digit prices, but nothing had so far materialized – all we had to go on were rumors and distinctly vague official statements that never denied nor truly confirmed the model.
Now, Reuters tells us that the Wolfsburg giant’s executive board is approving the budget for the low-cost car in a few weeks’ time, and it could get the green light for development as early as this summer. They quote a local German source, which in turn doesn’t say where he/she got this information…
The model would reportedly be aimed at “emerging markets,” a fancy term used by banksters to make the developed West feel contempt about itself, where it will be fighting a slew of cheapo cars from other manufacturers.
In India, where VW’s presence is nowhere near as high as they would like, for instance, they would have to battle it out with the locally-manufactured Maruti-Suzuki cars, as well others like the new Datsun Go and Renault-badged versions of Europe’s Dacia range.
This low-cost VW, which would sell for the equivalent of between €6,000 – €8,000, would be exclusively manufactured in China, the country where the demand for such cars is the highest; it would also be exported where needed, though at this point, it’s not clear whether the model would make it to Europe as well. We don’t even know if it will be badged as a VW or not.
By Andrei Nedelea
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