With the full-year volumes of its mid-size SUV Kushaq and 10 months of mid-size sedan Slavia, Skoda expects to post its highest ever annual sales since its entry into India more than a couple of decades ago.
Zac Hollis, brand director, Skoda Auto, told ET that despite the foreseeable challenges impacting market sentiments in the short-term, “the demand for Slavia has already exceeded our expectations.”
The company has robust bookings for the sedan, the segment that is a relative straggler in India’s SUV-tilted automotive market.
“We are booked for the next three months of production. We are confident that 2022 will be the biggest ever year for us in India,” Hollis said. “We are fully geared to take the brand to new heights, as India becomes a key market for Skoda globally.”
Hollis said the Slavia has seen the best-ever start and Kushaq is sustaining its momentum and driving volumes.
In the first quarter of 2022, Skoda has broken into the top 10 car makers in India from 14th rank last year.
The company says the cancellation of booking for Slavia is less than 2%, significantly less than the double-digit cancellation witnessed in the industry. Skoda Auto is eyeing an annual sale of 50-60,000 units in 2022.
The two new models under the India 2.0 have already crossed 40,000 units of cumulative booking. This has given confidence to the parent company to commit additional investments in India to bring in new models.
Recently, Global CEO Thomas Schaeffer said that Skoda will be coming out with a sub-4 metre SUV in the future to participate in the growing market.
Alternatively, the company will be kick-starting the pilot for its electric vehicle Enyaq in India.
With the Slavia and Kushaq, Skoda is participating in 21% of the Indian market. With the new models in the pipeline, the Czech car maker will be expanding its footprint, thereby moving closer to its vision of attaining over 2.5% market share by 2025.
The company has doubled its network in the past two years to more than 200 sales and service touch-points to be closer to the customer. And the company claims the cost of ownership improved by 21% with highly localized Indian models.
