Volkswagen GTI Price Slashed To Rs 19.99 Lakh

Published July 18, 2017
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Big performance, smaller pinch on the wallet. Time to bite the bullet?

Volkswagen has dropped the price of the GTI to Rs 19.99 lakh (ex-showroom, Mumbai). The hatchback, that’s based on the Polo MQB platform, was first launched in November last year at Rs 25.99 lakh. There were only a scant 99 units of this hot hatch on offer across India, making it a limited edition, and it seems that the price and exclusivity of this CBU hasn’t managed to attract enough buyers. This 6 lakh discount post GST should help complete sales of the India allocation of this hot hatch.

The numbers

The Volkswagen GTI, despite being made from the same platform as the Polo and also featuring the same 1.8 TSI engine (but in a different tune) from the Octavia, has been brought into the country as a CBU and this is the main reason for the high initial pricing. Post GST the percentage change in tax for CBU imports has changed from an initial 44.7% to 43%, a reduction of just 1.7%. But after the price cut of 6 lakhs off the ex-showroom price, the Volkswagen GTI is selling at a total discount of just over 23%.

What is the Volkswagen GTI?

It’s a three-door hot hatch based on the Polo platform with a 1.8 TSI engine shoehorned into the engine bay. That’s the same engine that the Ameo Cup car features and the performance numbers are also not far off from the race car. 192PS between 5400-6200 rpm and 250Nm of torque between 1250-5300rpm and a claimed top speed of 235kmph make this a true hot hatch. It also features more supportive seats, 7-speed DSG with paddle shifters and 16-inch rims (compared to the 17s on the international models) to improve ride quality over our Indian roads.

Hot hatches are aimed at enthusiast buyers who put performance before economy and practicality and yet don’t fall into that even smaller minority of buyers who can afford true sports cars. The GTI really has just two rivals in the market and it loosely compares with the Fiat Abarth 595 and the Mini Cooper S in that all three are performance-focused hatchbacks. This price decrease from dealers could be seen as a great opportunity for many who felt that the introductory price was too much to pay for what is essentially a three-door Polo, albeit with a much more powerful engine and performance but not much else in terms of features.