<div>Volkswagen India — the German auto major — on Wednesday (07 October) directed its dealers not to sell any Polo, its popular hatchback model in the market with immediate effect. </div><div> </div><div>In a letter addressed to its dealers, the car maker has directed them not to "physically deliver" any Polo vehicle. </div><div> </div><div>"We request, not to physically deliver any Polo vehicle (all variants) with immediate effect till further notice from VW," the dealers were told. </div><div> </div><div>The letter was signed by two Senior Volkswagen officials — Ashish Gupta, Head of After Sales — Operations and Pankaj Sharma, Head of Sales Operations, to their dealer partners. </div><div> </div><div>"Volkswagen India has confirmed a temporary hold on deliveries of its carline Polo due to a technical reason which is currently under evaluation," a Volkswagen Passenger Cars India spokesperson said in a statement.</div><div> </div><div>On whether the matter is related to the emission scandal, the spokesperson said: "Volkswagen would like to clarify that the temporary hold on deliveries is not related to the ongoing EA 189 diesel engine topic." </div><div> </div><div>The German firm, which entered India’s mass car market with its Polo and Vento models in 2010, overtook Toyota Motor Corp. as the world’s largest automaker last month, hasn’t been able to garner much volume and market share in India owing to its high cost structures, high level of imported content and tough competition from the local arms of Suzuki Motor Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co.<br><br>In the first four months of the current fiscal year between April and July, Volkswagen sold a mere 15,807 units, lower than 12,178 units a year ago. </div><div> </div><div>Globally, Volkswagen is embroiled in a scandal where it has admitted to cheating emission tests in more than 11 million vehicles in the US alone.</div><div> </div><div>Europe's largest carmaker is under huge pressure to find those responsible for installing software in diesel engines to rig emissions tests, to say how affected vehicles will be fixed and to what extent it may also have cheated in Europe.</div><div> </div><div>The biggest business crisis in Volkswagen's 78-year history has wiped more than a third off its share price, forced out its long-time chief executive and sent shockwaves through both the global car industry and the German establishment.</div>
