Making India Auto Proud---1

The original 'people's car,' Volkswagen's Beetle,

Will the card parallel the nicer interference?

is all set to roll out on Indian roads as the company plans to bring it by the middle of this year, even as the Indian version 'Nano' from Tatas hogged the limelight since its unveiling at the Auto Expo in New Delhi

Commonly known as the Bug, the Beetle would hit the Indian market in the middle of this year, Volkswagen managing director, passenger car division, Adreas Prinz told PTI.

"Volkswagen is known as Beetle in India ]. We have studied the market and feel that there is space for Beetle. We are planning to make it available in the middle of this year through imports," Prinz said.

Even though the car is known as the original 'People's Car', the two-door car would be far more expensive than the latest 'People's Car', the Nano from Tatas priced at Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000). "The cheapest Beetle to be sold in European market is for around 17,000 Euros. Since we would be importing them into India, the car would be a little expensive for many," Prinz said. Under the current Indian regulations, direct imports almost doubles the price of a car.

The company has recently launched their new Beetle model, a 2.5L, 5-cylinder engine throwing up a 150 horse power in the European market.

Volkswagen is coped with well-planned safety features. These features include ABS (anti-lock brake system), traction control, anti-skid system and front and side airbags. The ABS is an electronically regulated hydraulic braking system, which helps the car against sliding during the application of hard brake. It has an automatic door lock system, which keeps the people sitting inside the car safe. There is a special tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS) attached to the vehicle. This consists of a sensor that is built into the valve of each tire. This is functional in alerting about the pressure variation in the tires of the car.