New Delhi, June 23 : Make way for the Beetle!

Volkswagen's cult car - the choice of a generation of youth in the West who hazily lived through music and rebellion - is set to hit the Indian roads.

Michael Mayer, director (passenger cars), today said the evergreen car - the iconic two-door, rear-engine variant was popularly called the Bug - would be part of an array of five models to be launched over the next two years.

"India is an important market for Volkswagen. In the next 24 months we plan to launch five products," Mayer said.

He said they were planning a sub-compact sedan with India in mind. "We will be launching a sub-4 meter compact sedan next year. We also plan to bring the Beetle into India."

The German auto maker today launched a new Vento sedan priced between Rs 7.85 lakh and Rs 11.87 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi). It also plans to roll out the Passat and the compact SUV Taigun.

All eyes are on the Beetle for now, especially as a variant - the new Beetle - launched in 2010 failed to find buyers, one reason being the high price of Rs 25 lakh because of import duties.

Globally, too, the Beetle has moved far away from the heady 1960s & 1970s. The car is now manufactured just at Volkswagen's Mexico plant.

Volkswagen wants to make India a low-cost manufacturing hub, which will cater to emerging and developed markets. The company plans to invest Rs 1,500 crore on localisation and producing cost-effective products. It also plans to increase production capacity at the Chakan and Aurangabad units in the next two years.

The company is betting on the India-specific sedan. "That's where we see the better future," Mayer said. "Developing a car takes some time but in this particular case we took a rapid decision ... to make it come to market as fast as possible."