A Made-for-India product tailored to cater to Indian customers, the Taigun not only marks the beginning of a new chapter for VW India but also the beginning of a new Volkswagen ownership experience for customers. We take a look at what it all means for Indian customers.
One of the keys to being a successful automobile brand in India is to create a product that’s tailor-made to suit the preferences of Indian customers. Now, it’s not a secret that Indian customers are the most demanding in the world. And, therefore, it seems reasonable to conclude that the best way to gain a foothold and achieve sales success in India is to create a Made-for-India product.
And that’s exactly what Volkswagen seems to have done with the brand new Taigun SUV – a product that has been tailored specially to suit Indian customers. And given the rising customer interest in the Taigun – VW has already received over 15,000 bookings – it seems to have captured the attention of Indian customers with what it has to offer as a package.
Now, as anyone with any understanding of the Indian automotive market will tell you, Indian customers not only look for a technologically sound product, loaded with features but also the ownership experience that it promises to offer.
So, we take a look at how Volkswagen India has been working for the past three years to offer the latest, world-class products to Indian customers and what all it has done to revamp its sales and service network and practices to ensure exceptionally low ownership costs to its customers. After all, a company’s goal should not be limited to offering the best product in the market. It should also ensure that the flawlessness of the ownership experience of its products. And the Volkswagen brand embodies this idea perfectly, and that’s why it inspires lifelong loyalty in its customers.
Capturing Imagination
But before you can offer a great ownership experience, you must first create a product to attract customers to your showrooms – it’s the first challenge, the first hurdle that every manufacture must pass. And it seems that with the Taigun, Volkswagen has hit the jackpot, at least in terms of its desirability – something that’s clearly reflected in the customer response the Taigun has generated.
So, what is it that makes the Taigun so desirable? Well, let’s start with the design. A look at it is enough to tell you that something interesting is going on here. With its wide front-end and tasteful use of chrome, the design instantly catches your eye, which is further enhanced by unique touches like the full-width taillamp, giving the Taigun a completely unique identity.
Just like the exterior, the interior too is quite appealing – it feels luxurious and is marked by excellent space management, thanks to the class-leading 2,651mm wheelbase, and India-specific features like the reduced height of the transmission tunnel in the rear floor. All this makes the SUV an extremely comfortable and desirable place to be.
Now, a lot of customers want their cars to be loaded with features, and it seems that the Taigun has them well and truly covered, for it offers the best in safety (up to 6 airbags, ABS, and Electronic Stability Control on all variants), the best in connectivity (Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto), and even a digital instrument cluster.
In terms of driving appeal, the Taigun is simply the best in its segment. Based on the world-class MQB A0 IN platform, the Taigun features an extremely stiff chassis and VW’s award-winning TSI technology. Consequently, both the 1.5 and 1.0-litre versions of the Taigun are an absolute delight to drive. Now, add to the mix the premium positioning of the VW brand and its class-leading quality, and you’ll have no difficulty understanding why the Taigun has successfully captured the imagination of both critics and customers alike.
Enriched Experience
One of the factors that attract customers to a brand is the degree of confidence that the brand exhibits in its products – the greater the confidence, the bigger the attraction. For example, if a car is offered with a standard warranty of only two years, while a competitor offers a warranty of three years, it’s not difficult to guess which brand has more confidence in its offerings, is it?
So, the Taigun’s 4 years/100,000kms standard warranty not just exhibits the brand’s confidence in the product but also sets a new benchmark in the segment. Plus, this warranty can be extended up to seven years, which is amongst the best warranty offerings in the Indian market. When a brand offers customers options to opt for warranty packages for such a long duration, it also indirectly exhibits its trust not only in the quality of its products but also in the ideas, thoughts, processes, and engineering that made those products a reality.
Another big concern for Indian customers is the cost of maintenance of their vehicles. And here, Volkswagen sets a new benchmark, for, with the Taigun, it offers the lowest cost of ownership for any premium product. The Service Value packages offered with the Taigun starts from a very affordable ₹21,999 and provide up to four years of worry-free ownership, including the cost of servicing and consumables.
And then there is Volkswagen’s constant endeavour to offer the best in customer service – for instance, its Sarvottam 2.0 service initiative – which also includes increased use of technology to enhance the transparency of the service process, along with using messaging apps and videos of work being performed vehicles.
Another initiative that Volkswagen has taken is to expand their service coverage pan-India with their Mobile Service Units fleet. Providing doorstep service to customers, the MSU fleet now covers 80% of the country, allowing customers to get their vehicles serviced, and even repaired, from the comfort of their home, no matter their location. This is also backed up by an RSA (Roadside Assistance) program that is available across the length and breadth of the country. Another vital aspect of their transformation has been VW’s ongoing effort to reduce the prices of spare parts and consumables, for instance, the Polo and Vento – two of VW’s best-selling products in India – are now between 23-25% cheaper when it comes to maintenance cost – and there is no doubt that the brand has been doing everything possible to customise its services and products to suit the needs and demands of Indian customers.
And that, perhaps, is the biggest highlight of the Taigun. In it, not only do you get one of the best SUVs in the country but also a smooth and flawless ownership experience that will make your life easier while giving you that feeling of owning the best.
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