Skoda Announces 4 New Cars For India; Significant After Sales Initiatives

By Siddharth Vinayak Patankar

1 mins read

Published on August 3, 2016

Highlights

Skoda will launch 4 products in India by 2017
The Octavia RS and the Kodiaq SUV will be launched soon
It has made a Rs. 100 crore investment to improve after sales service

Skoda Auto India has made very significant announcements to attempt a big turnaround in the Indian market. The plan is to focus on new products, and there is also an investment of Rs. 100 crore on the after sales side. Of the three clear moves that the Czech carmaker is making - finally there is news on the product portfolio with 4 new products committed to the Indian market that will arrive before the end of 2017. The first two are known - the new flagship fullsize SUV Kodiaq and the very hot and exciting RS variant of the Octavia. In addition to these we will also get two cars from the range Skoda calls 'Action Models' - namely the Octavia Black Edition and the Rapid Monte Carlo Edition. All of this ties in with the policy shift that will see cars get safer and greener by 2020. Skoda has said that it's already made dual airbags standard across all variants of all models a while ago, but by the end of this year will also make ABS standard. That is creditable indeed. The second initiative is to address the negative perception that Skoda has in the after sales area. Starting now, all Skoda cars will have a standard 4-year/100,000 warranty across all models. Roadside assistance will also now be available for 4 years at no extra cost. Skoda Service Care will be the next big pillar the new strategy stands on. This includes what Skoda is calling Menu Pricing. This means repair charges will be uniform across the country and customers will be able to select the service they want from a basket of services on offer. All service and repairs will be backed by an itemized service invoice. Skoda says cars will be delivered post servicing on the same day that it comes in for regular maintenance/service and says if it cannot do so it will pick up the tab on the service. Also Read: Third-Gen Skoda Octavia Hits 1 Million Production Milestone Of the Rs. 100 crore investment laid out by Skoda - 60 per cent has already been spent to get all the aforementioned initiatives rolled out and in place. But the balance will be spent over the next few months to ensure the complete delivery of this new strategy - including a strong communication on all of this to the consumer. And finally Skoda has also launched an app for its car owners. The MySkoda App will allow owners to access their car's service history, as well as all data and facts related to their car. They will also be able to book service appointments and call for roadside assistance. The question is whether all of this will translate to a change in perception Skoda has garnered over the years of being pricey and lacking services. Skoda India MD Sudhir Rao says that it will not be easy to unwind the perception that's gradually built up over 15 years. But Skoda is hoping to have a significant shift in its position over the next 6 months. It says it will close the 2016 calendar year with just over 15,000 units sold (similar to 2015). But in 2017 its target sales over 20,000 units - which it says will only grow in the future, as the new products get better entrenched in the market.