Volkswagen Passat in India
We might be living in a world of equals today but really, it is a world of best among equals. Especially with regard to cars. Today it’s just not enough to have a big, expensive car. Engineering helps, but the most important thing for the moving metal, especially at the higher end of the scale, is the badge on the grille.
And no longer is it good enough to have a pointed star on the hood. Nope! Take, for example, Mercedes. The German has been around for so long in India, it has become default high-street furniture. What really gets people rubber-necking is having a moniker that’s as common as Arnold in a romantic comedy.
And therein lies Volkswagen’s biggest advantage. In Europe, the VW guys might have been punching above their weight a bit to compete with Mercedes and BMW.
In India though, late entry helps them tremendously with the exclusivity factor. They are setting up shop here and come December, Passats will be rolling off the production line. Until then, the Passat enjoys a sense of exclusivity, something that it just can’t manage in Europe.
That’s because the Passat for now will be imported by Kashyap Vehicle Works (the Delhi VW dealer) as a CBU. The Passat as a brand isn’t new. It’s been around for over three decades and has succeeded in glueing 13 million rears to Volkswagen driving seats. Also, Volkswagen owns a lot of badges and it’s no secret that lots of bits are shared between them, something that holds true with the Passat as well.