New Delhi: Skoda Auto aims to triple sales in India this year by selling 70,000 units against 23,000 units in 2021, the company informed on Thursday.
It expects the market share to double from about 1% now to 2% to 2.5% in 2022. From a low base of 10,387 cars in 2020, ŠKODA AUTO India achieved a triple-digit growth of 130% with 23,858 units sold in 2021.
This is probably the most ambitious and fastest growth the carmaker has set for India on the strength of six new launches in the country. The company sees this as an important step to put it on track to achieve sales volumes of 1,00,000 units by 2025 and make India one of the top 10 markets for Skoda Auto.
The first product to be launched will be a mid-size sedan Slavia. Built on the same MQB A0 IN platform as the KUSHAQ. It will replace the Skoda Rapid and compete with the likes of Verna, Ciaz, Honda City, etc.
“Slavia will be available at the dealership by February and launch will happen in March,” Zac Hollis, Brand Director, ŠKODA AUTO India said.
The slowing sales in sedan may not be because of lack of demand but because manufacturers focused on SUVs and did not launch new sedansZac Hollis, Brand Director, ŠKODA AUTO India
Justifying the entry with the mid-size sedan, Hollis said, “The slowing sales in sedan may not be because of lack of demand but because manufacturers have been focusing on SUVs and there were not many new launches in the segment. We will bring the focus back to Sedans.”
Skoda Auto has also tasted a bit of success with the launch of the first leg of the India 2.0 project with compact SUV Kushaq. A project that involved the development of the MQB A0 IN platform made specifically for India, that formed the base for the launch of the KUSHAQ.
Since its launch in March this year the carmaker has sold 13000 units of Kushaq. Going forward it has lined up another premium SUV Kodiaq for the Indian market. Kodia will be launched in January in a 7-seater Avatar.
Providing further impetus to the product blitz will be the enhancements across the product line-up, which include updates to the KUSHAQ, OCTAVIA, and SUPERB.
Rural push
The brand is seeing a surge in the contribution from rural markets. From around 5% in 2020, the rural market sales grew to around 10% in 2021. With the rapid network expansion across the country, there will be further contributions from the rural markets in 2022.
With over 175 touchpoints in 2021, the brand has already increased its presence by almost 50%. In 2022 the number of touchpoints will be increased from the present 175 to 225 helping more than 25% growth.
Workshop, which makes aftersales facilities accessible in all rural areas having a sales branch, will enable the brand to cater to more than 60 rural cities in India in 2022.
Pre-owned impetus
With the supply-chain challenges new car deliveries have become a major roadblock, pushing the pre-owned car market.
For Skoda Auto, this also will be a new focus area on the sales front. In order to gear up for the aggressive sales volumes for 2022, the brand will build on new and existing avenues like its Certified Pre-Owned’ brand, ‘Corporate Sales’ initiatives, increase penetration in rural markets, and also continue to focus on dealer manpower training, which is essential to the business operations.
The plan is to activate the ‘Certified Pre-Owned’ brand across all outlets in 2022. There is already a high level of digitalization in the business process, and the 115-points vehicle evaluation is done by using the mobile app.
On the ‘Corporate Sales’ front, the brand claims to have already facilitated tie-ups with banks & financial institutes and has recorded 127% growth in 2021 over 2020. The objective is to increase further the corporate sales contribution to 25% in 2022.
No EVs till 2025
When asked if among the six launches lined up this year, would there be an electric vehicle to this Zac replied negatively.
“We have electric vehicles in our global product portfolio and we may bring them but for at least till 2025 we don’t have any mass segment electric vehicles planned for India,” he said adding that the EVs will come only after we see the scope of a higher level of localization and adequate infrastructure.
However, it may consider bringing the luxury all-electric SUV Skoda Enyaq iV SUV as the first electric car from the Skoda brand in India.
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In December 2021, the company’s wholesales stood at 3,234 units compared with 1,303 units in December 2020, witnessing a year-on-year rise of 148%. The OEM had dispatched 10,387 units to dealers in 2020, the company said
