Skoda Rolls Out New Rapid Small Sedan in India [with Video]

In the next step towards its bold goal of increasing Skoda's worldwide sales to at least 1.5 million vehicles per year by 2018, the Volkswagen Group revealed a new entry-level Skoda sedan named Rapid at its Pune plant in western India on Sunday.

Although it had been suggested that the Rapide may be the production version of Skoda's MissionL concept that was show in Frankfurt last month, this doesn't seem to be the case.

Instead, the Rapid, which borrows its name from the rear-engine Skoda coupe of the mid-late 1980s, is a rebadged version of the Indian market VW Vento, otherwise known as the Polo sedan.

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Tata Nano: World's Most Affordable Car Receives a $4.6 million Gold Treatment [with Videos]

When Ratan Tata revealed the $2,500 Nano mini car in India in January 2008, the owner and Chairman of Tata Motors, made headlines the world over with the world’s cheapest car.

Three years later the Nano has faced a spontaneous-combusting debacle while despite the booming Indian car market; its sales have dropped significantly. So Tata decided to do a little publicity stand in order to bring its car once again into the spotlight.

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Suzuki wants to Dissolve Partnership with Volkswagen, but the Germans Say ‘Nein’

In a move more or less anticipated after the recent publication of Volkswagen's internal review that accuses Suzuki of breaking a contract agreement between the two companies by purchasing diesel engines from Fiat, the Japanese carmaker said it will abort its alliance with the German group.

Suzuki's announcement comes almost two years after it forged a partnership with Volkswagen. The German had acquired a 19.9 per cent stake in Suzuki Motor Corp in December 2009 for 225 billion Yen (then, approx US$2.5 billion) while the Japanese automaker agreed to invest up to one half of the amount received from the German automaker into shares of Volkswagen.

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