Volkswagen has announced the name of its new Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire rival, christened as the Ameo. Ameo comes from the Latin word Amo meaning I ‘love’,
Designed especially for The Indian market, the car is based on the same platform as the Polo and will share a lot its parts from the Polo hatchback and Vento sedan but the Ameo will get more features to distinguish it from the Polo.
A recent Spy shot which was taken at a dealer yard has revealed the rear of the car which has shown a short well integrated boot and a boot lip spoiler. The spy shot also revealed new rear bumper with reflectors and newly designed alloy wheels.
Power for the Ameo will come from the 1.2 litre MPI and TSI petrol engine and a 1.5 litre TDI diesel engine, mated to a six speed manual transmission and even a 7 – Speed DSG gearbox on the diesel variant. Volkswagen will officially reveal the Ameo at world premiere on 3rd February at the Delhi Auto Expo.
Volkswagen had announced an investment of Rs, 720 crore towards development, setting up new equipment and ramping up production for its new compact sedan. This is also part of the investment Rs. 1,500 crore that was announced by VW in the beginning of 2014.
Production of the Ameo has begun at the company’s Chakan facility in Pune, where it will be manufactured for the Indian market. The Ameo is a sub four metre sedan which will take on rivals such as the Tata Zest, Maruti Dzire, Ford Aspire, Honda Amaze, and Hyundai Xcent.
Let’s wait and watch if the Ameo has the right impact in the compact sedan segment.
For our new readers what is a compact sedan?
A compact sedan is a sedan which measures less than 4 metres. This body shape was born due to the exercise duty structure in India which applies a lower exercise duty of 12% compared to higher 20% on mid-size sedans which measures more than 4 metres.
Tata Motors was the first company to look at this bright spot in the Indian market and launched India’s first compact sedan the Indigo eCS in 2009, giving birth to new segment. The success of the car made Maruti Suzuki to bring in the new Swift Dzire which measured less than 4 metres on the Swift platform. Ever since then the car has been the highest selling sedan in the Indian market. Next to follow was Hyundai with the Xcent, launched in 2014. Tata Motors launched the Zest and Ford entered this segment in 2015 with Figo Aspire. Next in line is VW with the Ameo and there are rumors of Nissan to offering a compact sedan.
Tata Motors will also showcase the KITE 5 compact sedan base on the Zica platform and will create a new impact in the compact sedan segment.
This blog post is inspired by the blogging marathon hosted on IndiBlogger for the launch of the #Fantastico Zica from Tata Motors. You can apply for a test drive of the hatchback Zica today.
