New Delhi: As Brand Director of Skoda Auto India, Petr Janeba is only too aware that a lot is riding on the compact SUV scheduled to debut in 2025.
Referring to it as the “Last Mohican” developed essentially for India, he told ETAuto that the sub four metre offering will also have “some relevance” in countries like Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Brunei.
However, from Skoda Auto’s point of view, India will receive more attention for this SUV since it is “a potential game changer here” in terms of volumes. In other markets, it will be “just another car” with less numbers.
The Czech automaker is clearly going to be pulling out all the stops to ensure that the new product will make its presence felt across every nook and corner of the country. Skoda is a late entrant in this space and will be up against fierce competition from the Japanese and Korean rivals.
According to Janeba, the retail presence with the new SUV should ideally be a 50:50 mix between large metros and Tier 2/3 regions. He said it would spur network expansion with 100 more touch points planned between now and May 2025. Of these, nearly 80% will be in smaller towns where the volumes will ensure viable business for dealers.
Heady response
Skoda had also invited name suggestions for this SUV and Janeba said a lot of responses came in from smaller centres which reflected the comfortable levels of Internet access in these parts of India. “People are living in the digital crowd and care about Skoda. We want them to embrace the car as a local (car) since they were involved in the naming process,” he added.
The India 2.0 programe being executed by Skoda Auto in the lead along with Volkswagen — Skoda Auto Volkswagen India – has ticked some of the right boxes in terms of offering products like the Kushaq and Slavia which have helped build greater customer connect.
However, there is still a long way to go especially when it means spreading brand awareness across smaller regions in India where affordability is key. This is where Skoda is hoping the compact SUV will do the trick in generating volumes and contributing to the overall objective of attaining 5% market share by 2030.
Electric play
Beyond this, Skoda has factored in electric cars for its India template and the Volkswagen group will logically see the new electric vehicle policy as a welcome tailwind. As Janeba said, people will now have a larger choice of EV brands from automakers across the world and “it will be interesting to see how the market reacts to this move”.
Skoda’s own electric plans for India will depend on scale by the end of the day. While everything is still up in the air in terms of the right products for a long term electric play, Janeba said it would ideally have to be a 50:50 mix for the local market and exports.
If everything goes according to plan, India can even look at supporting development of EVs for the VW group. “We need the scale for EVs in order to explore India as a base for exports. However, the product must be truly global and not one for India alone,” he added.
This is obvious since the EV market here will not be large enough to justify investments and assure economies of scale. While conceding that China started its EV journey a lot earlier and naturally has a comfortable head start, Janeba said people in India are truly digital savvy. “Software will drive the world and India is a digital destination which makes it only natural for us to use the competencies here,” he added.
This is more reason for Skoda to be accessible on digital platforms. “We must talk to customers in the language they understand and need voluminous products for them to see on the roads. Even if we are late with this compact SUV, it will help Skoda grow volumes,” Janeba said.
