Words by Ajinkya Nair
Volkswagen has officially unveiled Virtus, a compact sedan, and has announced that it will be sold in South American markets. Based on the MQB platform, for which Volkswagen has invested roughly 60 billion dollars, the Virtus is all set to replace the Polo sedan, or as we know it, the Vento. The new sedan’s wheelbase measures 2650mm, making it little under 100mm longer than the existing Vento.
At the moment, Volkswagen has announced two engines for the Virtus. A 1.6-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine producing 116bhp and 162Nm of torque, and a slightly more exciting three-cylinder 1-litre turbo petrol churning out 126bhp and an enthusiastic 200Nm of torque. The turbo is mated to a six-speed auto, while the 1.6-litre gets a five-speed manual. The Virtus will also get tech not seen on a car of this class before: assistance systems using artificial intelligence to support the driver, which is the result of Volkswagen’s and IBM’s new cooperation.
The Volkswagen India plant in Chakan is still not equipped to manufacture the MQB cars in India. Which is why budget cars like the new (MQB based) Polo and now this Virtus are unlikely to make it to India anytime soon. However, Skoda has confirmed that it is working on a low-cost MQB-based platform that should give us the next generation of these cars in India.