Volkswagen Ameo diesel opens for bookings in India ahead of September 27 launch

Volkswagen Ameo diesel is expected to make its entry into the Indian market on September 27. Ahead of its launch in the country, the dealers of the company have started accepting the bookings for the model. The bookings are being accepted for a down-payment of Rs 10,000.

The Ameo, a made-in-India made-for-India compact sedan from the German car-maker, is currently sold with a petrol engine in India. Launched in July this year, the petrol-powered Ameo has been contributing a significant number to the total sale volumes of the company in India.

While in its new diesel avatar, the Ameo will remain unchanged in its style and design, the major changes will come under the hood. Currently, the Ameo is sold with a 1.2-litre three-cylinder MPI petrol engine that develops 74bhp of power and 110Nm of peak torque. The engine comes mated to a five-speed manual gear box. In the diesel-avatar, the Ameo is expected to come powered by an upgraded 1.5-litre TDI diesel engine, which is expected to be re-tuned to churn out 108bhp of power.

On the safety front, the Ameo comes with dual front airbags and ABS as standard. The compact sedan also houses a bundle of other features such as cruise control, height-adjustable driver's seat, reverse-parking camera, reverse-parking sensors, electrically-foldable ORVMs, rear defogger and touchscreen MirrorLink system.

The Ameo diesel is also likely to be offered in three trims — Trendline, Comfortline and Highline. In India, the Ameo is pitted against Maruti Suzuki Swift DZire, Honda Amaze, Ford Figo Aspire, Tata Zest and Hyundai Xcent.