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Skoda Auto rolls out luxury car Octavia on Indian roads

Czech carmaker Skoda Auto, a unit of global auto major Volkswagen, on Friday announced the launch of its upper segment luxury car Octavia in the Indian market.

The new model, which marks the entry of Skoda into the rapidly growing Indian passenger car market, will be assembled at the company's Aurangabad plant in the western state of Maharashtra from imported semi-knocked down kits.

"The Octavia is the fastest selling car in Europe and is the first car to be identified by Volkswagen to represent the group in India," Imran Hassen, managing director of Skoda Auto India told reporters in New Delhi.

The cars will initially be launched in the cities of Bombay, New Delhi and Goa. New Delhi and Bombay make up for 70 per cent of the country's car sales.

The new model, which would be available in 1.9 litre diesel and 2.0 petrol versions, has been priced competitively at Rs 1.06 million.

"We are planning to sell nearly 6,000 cars in the first 12 months. We will also expand our dealers' network from four now to 12 by end of next year," Hassen said, adding the company will initially import all components from the parent company.

"Production in India will not start before three to five years. First we will create a market for ourselves and then go for localisation of components in a phased manner," he said.

According to Hassen, Skoda Auto India also plans to make the Aurangabad facility its export hub to cater to neighbouring markets such as Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Analysts say Octavia's entry will intensify competition in the recently created segment of larger mid-sized cars in India that has seen a string of launches this year, including the Hyundai Sonata, Ford Mondeo, Honda Accord and the Mercedes Benz C-Class.

India's nearly 600,000-a-year car market comprises a high volume entry-level small car A-segment where cars retail at below Rs 300,000 and a slightly higher priced B-segment consisting of hatchbacks priced up to Rs 500,000.

There is also a growing mid-size sedan C-segment with cars priced at between half a million to a little over Rs 1 million. Cars in the D-segment comprise larger sedans priced at between Rs 1.1-2 million.

"Octavia will be positioned in the top-end premium bracket of the mid-size luxury car segment to compete against the likes of Mitsubishi Lancer, Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata and Ford Mondeo," Hassen said.

A rapidly growing company in Europe, Skoda Auto plans to study the Indian market for other models, mainly various version of the smaller Fabia.

"This is simply the first foot step for us. We are planning to bring the whole range but we can't bring it at the same time," the official said.

Indo-Asian News Service

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