Volkswagen Ameo front
Volkswagen Ameo set to enter production on May 25. Pictured: Volkswagen Ameo frontVolkswagen/Media

Volkswagen Ameo, the company's first offering in the compact sedan segment in India is set to hit the assembly lines at Chakan plant in Pune on May 25. The Ameo, a made-in-India and made-for-India compact sedan, is expected to make its market entry by mid-June.

A report of Overdrive, citing sources close to the development, says that the Ameo production will kickstart on May 25. The bookings for the Ameo are already open in the country and can be booked for a down payment of Rs. 10,000. Volkswagen Ameo is expected to be priced in the range of Rs. 5 lakh to Rs. 8 lakh.

At the heart of the Ameo comes plonked with 1.2-litre three-cylinder MPI petrol and 1.5-litre four-cylinder TDI diesel engines. While the petrol mill can churn out 74bhp of power and 110Nm of peak torque, the diesel units can develop 89bhp of power and 230Nm of torque. As for transmission, the diesel engine comes mated to a five-speed manual gearbox and seven-speed DSG transmissions and the petrol engine gets only five-speed manual transmission.

To be offered in exterior colours of Blue Silk, Reflex Silver, Toffee Brown, Candy White and Carbon Steel and will be available in three trims — Trendline, Comfortline and Highline. It will be pitted against segment leaders like Maruti Suzuki Swift DZire, Honda Amaze, Ford Figo Aspire, Tata Zest and Hyundai Xcent in India.

Volkswagen is expected to begin the delivery of the Ameo in early July. On the safety front, the Ameo comes equipped with ABS (Anti-lock Braking System), dual-front airbags, driver and passenger side, Electronic Stabilisation Programme (ESP) and Hill Hold control.

Other features include central locking, tilt-and telescopic steering, height-adjustable driver's seat, electrically-adjustable ORVMs, infotainment system with CD/MP3/USB/AUX-in/SD card and Bluetooth and iPod connectivity, steering mounted controls, automatic wipers and reverse parking camera.

[1 lakh = 100,000 | 1 crore = 10 million | 100 crore = 1 billion]