VW's Maruti Vitara Brezza and Tata Nexon Rival in the Making

The sub-4-metre compact SUV segment in India is so fiercely competitive that all carmakers want to enter the segment. Automakers which have not had a model in their portfolio, like Renault, Nissan, Kia and Toyota, are rushing to introduce one soon. On the other hand, by 2021, Skoda and Volkswagen will be the only mainstream automakers in India to not have a sub-4-metre compact SUV in India.

It's, however, worth mentioning here that Volkswagen is reported to be working on slew of new cars for India under its India 3.0 Project, which is expected to include a sub-4-metre SUV that will go on to rival the likes of Tata Nexon and Maruti Vitara Brezza. The company even plans to come up with mild-hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles for our market. The carmaker had earlier stated that it plans to grab 5% of the passenger car market in India (Skoda and Volkswagen combined). This is a long way to go considering the fact that the market shares for Skoda and VW in FY 2019-20 are just 0.5 and 0.9%, respectively.

Volkswagen is also working on the MQB A0 IN, a localized version of the MQB - A0 platform. At Auto Expo 2020, the VW Taigun was revealed in its near-production guise. It will be the first SUV to be underpinned by this platform and will rival the Renault Duster, Kia Seltos and Hyundai Creta once it goes on sale in the Indian auto market in 2021.

The German automaker is also developing a sub-4-metre SUV supported by the MQB A0 IN chassis trimmed a little bit to fit the size limit. The vehicle will be aggressively priced and compete against the Tata Nexon, Ford EcoSport, Hyundai Venue, Maruti Vitara Brezza and Mahindra XUV300. The SUV is reported to be launched in India under Skoda brand and later under Skoda. The SUV is expected to receive its power from the same 1.0-litre 3-cyl turbo gasoline burner which also serves as the power source for the Skoda Rapid, VW Vento and VW Polo but the former is offered in a higher state of tune: 115 PS against 200 Nm. Transmission duties are expected to be undertaken by a 6-speed MT/AT with no dual-clutch available. While the launch timeline has not yet to be confirmed, the SUV is anticipated to come to India in 2022.