Several carmakers have already announced that from January 2021, they will be introducing revised (hiked) price lists of their respective models. Some of the names include Audi, BMW, Maruti Suzuki, Ford and Nissan. Joining that list in the German brand Volkswagen. It has announced that two of its models will receive an increase in their prices from next month. Which ones? Yes, you guessed it – the Polo and Vento.

Prices will be hiked by up to 2.5 per cent. Volkswagen says that the decision has been taken to counterbalance the impact of the rise in input costs. That means the Tiguan Allspace and the T-Roc won’t be getting newer price tags alongside the Polo siblings.

In March this year, Volkswagen India introduced the BS6-compliant (Bharat Stage 6) versions of the Polo and Vento. The carmaker soon made a few changes to their portfolios, including the axing of Comfort Line trim level. That trim level, however, has now been reincluded. In May 2020, we received the TSI Editions of both those models and, in September, Volkswagen gave new price tags to Polo’s and Vento’s automatic variants. The following month saw the introduction of the Red & White Editions.

In India, the Volkswagen Polo competes with the Honda Jazz, Tata Altroz, Toyota Glanza, Hyundai i20 and the Maruti Suzuki Baleno. On the other hand, the Vento locks horns with the Honda City, Hyundai Verna, Skoda Rapid, Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and the Toyota Yaris. Compared to the competition, both Volkswagen products look and feel outdated. It is high time that Volkswagen revived both those nameplates with latest-generation versions. Also, the company wants to land a punch in the compact SUV space. The Taigun, which premiered at the 2020 Auto Expo, will do the honours. Do you think the upcoming SUV will help Volkswagen garner a higher market share in India?