Volkswagen has officially named its upcoming compact sedan ‘Ameo’ which is derived from the Latin word AMO which means ‘I Love’. The Ameo will make its official debut at the 13th Edition of 2016 Delhi auto expo. Till now, Volkswagen hasn’t had a vehicle in the compact sedan segment or we must say for the first time car buyer. The compact sedan will compete in the very competitive segment against Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire, Ford Figo Aspire, Hyundai Xcent and Honda Amaze.
According to Volkswagen, Ameo is designed especially for the Indian market and will be manufactured at company’s Chakan plant in Pune to keep the price competitive. The German carmaker announced an investment of around Rs 720 crore for the new set up, development, and related affairs of the new compact sedan.
The sub 4 metre means either it is going to be Polo hatchback with extended boot or squeezed version of Vento sedan. Recent spy shots doesn’t reveal much about the car but it showcase headlights with LED DRLs, chunky boot, new L shaped tail lamps and TDI badge at rear. The Ameo is expected to be the feature rich car and might get goodies like touchscreen infotainment system, automatic climate control, cruise control, multi function steering wheel and much more. For safety, it will get Dual front airbags, ABS with EBD as standard across all variants of the compact sedan and top variant might get six airbags.
It is expected to be powered by Polo equipped petrol and diesel engines- 1.2 litre MPi petrol engine good for 74bhp power and 110Nm of torque and 1.5 litre TDI diesel engine capable of 89bhp and 230Nm. Both the engines are matched to a 5-speed manual gearbox as standard while the petrol mill will be offered with a 7-speed DSG gearbox. Expect VW Ameo to be priced in the range of Rs. 5.5-8 lakh (ex-showroom).
