India Became Skoda’s Third Largest Market In 2022

Skoda Auto recently released its 2023 annual report sharing the company’s financials and sales performances across the globe for 2022. The carmaker reported total production of 8,23,151 units across all its manufacturing facilities and cumulative sales of 7,31,262 units across all markets. The big news however was India rose into the brand’s top 5 markets for the first time in terms of sales with 51,865 units (a 128 per cent growth) sold in 2022 behind Germany and the Czech Republic.

The Slavia was Skoda's highest manufactured car at its plant in India.

The carmaker’s India plant meanwhile rolled out 55,750 units in the year – up 112 per cent over 2021 – with the Slavia and Kushaq accounting for the lion’s share. Skoda rolled out 26,723 units of the Kushaq and 24,664 units of the Slavia from its India plant last year. Production of the Octavia, Superb and Kodiaq meanwhile stood at 1,417 units, 1,771 units and 1,175 units respectively.

On the sales front, the Kushaq and Slavia too performed strongly with global sales of 26,761 units and 20,931 units respectively. Just as a refresher while Skoda has commenced exports of the Kushaq last year, the Slavia was only retailed in India. Globally, the Octavia remained the brand's leading seller with over 1.4 lakh units retailed through 2022.

Octavia remained the company's best-seller globally in 2022 with over 1.4 lakh units sold.

The company also announced its plans for the 2023 model year confirming the arrival of a new generation of the Skoda Superb and Kodiaq in global markets. The brand is also set to lead the VW Group’s sales expansions efforts in the Asean region. The plans include entering the Vietnemese market this year with plans to export the Kushaq and Slavia to the market from India by 2024. The company also said that it planned to turn India into an export hub in the region.