Volkswagen puts on hold delivery of Polo in India

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 7

In a sudden move, the world’s largest carmaker’s Indian arm, Volkswagen India, today said it was putting on a “temporary hold” the sales of its Polo hatchback, but claimed that the hold was not as a result of the ongoing EA 189 diesel engine cheating charges across the world.

In a statement issued late in the evening after unofficial reports went viral, VW India said, “Volkswagen India has confirmed a temporary hold on deliveries of its carline Polo due to a technical reason which is currently under evaluation. This concerns a limited number of cars out of a specific production period”.

The statement further said, “Volkswagen further confirms that deliveries for the non-impacted Polo range, continues as per schedule.

“Volkswagen would like to clarify that the temporary hold on deliveries is not related to the ongoing EA 189 diesel engine topic,” the statement added.

The development in India comes right in the middle of an ongoing global crisis that the German car major faces due to cheating over emissions in its diesel engines.

Earlier in the day, reports came out that Volkswagen had asked its dealers to immediately halt delivery of its popular hatchback Polo while not giving any reason behind this directive.

Both the petrol and diesel engine variants have been taken off the dealerships. “We request not to physically deliver any Polo vehicle (all variants) with immediate effect till further notice from Volkswagen”, said a communication sent to dealers by the company today.