Volkswagen had launched Beetle car in India 4 years ago. The company expected that the iconic car with superior design and engineering will be able to lure customers in India and its sales will exceed Polo and Vento. Although, it couldn't happen. Polo and Vento were successful in setting their place on the Indian roads, but Beetle could not.
It is interesting that initially Beetle's response was great. Volkswagen had 150 orders before launch of December 2009 and it succeed to sale 500 Beetle cars immediately. There was a waiting list of the car in starting 12-18 months. Obviously, in Indian market people are not willing to spend money on iconic cars in non luxury segment. For instance, there was a car Fiat 500 in India in 2008 and now it has completely disappeared. Volkswagen Beetle had sales of 192 in 2009-10 and in the next year it sold 398 units. In year 2011-2012, its sales dropped down to a mere 59 units. According to a trade expert at the end of 2011-12 Beetle car was found at a discount of 3-6 lac. After that the company stopped selling the car. However, despite the decline in sales Beetle Owner Fan Clubs are still running.
Price certainly had a significant role in the performance of Beetle. The cars were imported directly from the Mexico plant of Volkswagen. Its Delhi ex showroom price was Rs. 20.45 lac. However, it did not include the amount of tax and insurance. Similarly, Fiat India 500 had same experience. It was launched in 2008 and its Delhi showroom price was Rs. 14.82 lac. Fiat hardly could sell 70 cars of this model. Indeed, in India there is demand for premium saloon or SUV ranging from 15-20 lac. Strength of Volkswagen Beetle was its small and pretty car and India is already full of such small and pretty cars.
