Is this the end of the road for Volkswagen Ameo?

Team OD Updated: April 09, 2020, 05:51 PM IST

Compact sedans are an Indian ingenuity, borne by tax laws and bred in boardrooms rather than taking form on a designer's canvas. What these sub-four-metre compact sedans offered the Indian buyer was more bang for their buck â" a sedan in the price of a premium hatchback and no wonder the segment took off like hot cakes off the shelf.

Volkswagen built the Ameo to stake a claim for a piece of the pie. Based on the four-metre long Polo hatchback, getting the proportions of the Ameo right was complex but Volkswagen engineers did manage to fit a three-box-sedan in four metres. Gurpratap Boparai, head of Volkswagen Group India had mentioned, "The sub-four-metre sedan is a very, very tricky product. It works only when the hatch that it's based on, is significantly below four metres (in length), otherwise, the aesthetics of the car won't work."

The Ameo was launched in 2016 with both petrol and diesel engines, and was the first compact sedan to offer a diesel-automatic. The Volkswagen Ameo sold more than 50,000 units since and after the initial surge, fell behind the Polo hatchback in terms of sales numbers.

Steffen Knapp, Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, had said that they will transform Volkswagen into an SUV brand in India as a part of the VW 2.0 strategy. With the Tiguan Allspace and the T-Roc launched, the process has already begun. So, naturally, with the BSVI upgrades, Volkswagen seems to have pulled the plug on the Ameo by not including it in the BSVI list of cars. Volkswagen also seems to be sure of not building another Ameo whenever the new Polo comes in.

Volkswagen Motorsport has always worked in consonance with the passenger car division. With the Ameo cup now back to being the Polo Cup, it seems that the Ameo has reached the end of its journey in the Indian market.