VW India builds one-off Firefighting car

Volkswagen Academy India’s students of the dual apprentice course have built a unique firefighting car for the company’s Chakan plant. The company launched the academy in 2011 and the students of the first batch crafted this car as part of their final year project. The idea was to put to practical use all that they have learnt through the three year course in Mechatronics. The students of the academy were asked to fabricate a purpose-built car and were given a fixed budget to adhere to. The students themselves came up with the idea of a special firefighting vehicle. 

Given the task of developing an exclusive firefighting car that can be used at the Fire and Safety Department of VW’s Chakan plant, 14 students, used the Vento as a base to develop the project car. To keep the costs low, they used scrapped parts of the Vento and the Cross Polo. The students were guided by Pilot Hall team that is responsible for experimental projects at VW India. 

While the front end and the engine bay remains unchanged, they had to completely modify it from the B-pillar backwards to cater to the needs of a firefighting car. The rear seat gives way to a deck and the tailgate has been specially fabricated to make it open like any pick-up truck. The one-off firefighting car sports a 1.6-litre petrol engine.

Volkswagen will use this car for daily inspection around the plant and for the movement of material by the Fire and Safety Department.