Skoda Auto India: In the fiscal years 2023–2024, double-digit growth is what Czech automaker Skoda Auto India is aiming for. Last year, the business, which offers the Slavia, Kushaq, and Kodiaq models, sold 50,000 units in India.
“This year, we want to make sure that both our current and potential customers are familiar with our cars in the Indian market. This year, the passenger vehicle market will expand even more, and we anticipate double-digit brand growth“, says Petr Solc, Skoda India’s brand director, in an interview.
Company is introducing new products
In order to invest EUR 1 billion from 2019 to 2021, the manufacturer unveiled its India 2.0 plan in 2018. Using its MQB architecture, the business produced two cars locally: the Slavia sedan and the Kushaq SUV. Within the next two to three years, Skoda plans to release more products. The Superb sedan, which will go on sale by the end of CY2023, is next in line. The country’s BS-VI Phase-II emission regulations would be met by the introduction of Superb, which was halted in March 2023.
According to Solc, a new-generation Superb has just been introduced in Europe, and the business is “studying the feasibility of bringing it to India.”
EV foray by end of FY24
Skoda plans to enter the Indian electric vehicle (EV) market with its electric SUV Enyaq by the end of the 2023-24 fiscal year. The automaker has already brought a few models to India for internal testing and plans to launch around 100 units in the initial phase of the launch.
The Enyaq iV was launched globally in 2022 as the first product under the Volkswagen Group’s Modular Electrification (MEB) platform. It is also exported to some foreign markets.
Growth in Tier-II, III
Skoda had mostly targeted the metro areas with models like the Octavia, Superb, and Rapid. Solc stated that it aims to attack the Tier-2,3 cities with the Kushaq and the Slavia.
“We want to balance and contribute equally in metro and non-metro cities in the future. We want to increase the size of our network by 20% to 25% by 2024. The automaker currently has 225 touchpoints across the nation.
Skoda Auto India: Exports
From India, Skoda exports its automobiles to the Middle East and North Africa. “In the future, we will expand to ASEAN and Vietnam, where Vietnam will contribute a significant portion of exports,” Solc said.
Significantly Skoda is absent, Volkswagen’s sister brand exports automobiles to Mexico and South Africa.
Skoda envisions India as an ICE car export base for areas like ASEAN, the Middle East, and North Africa because EV penetration is higher in those countries than it is in India.
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