In less than a week from now, Skoda will be ready to
kick off a new chapter in its global strategy. On September 1,2016 the Czech
carmaker will unveil its Kodiaq SUV at a global premiere in Berlin,Germany
Thousands of miles away, this date will also see the rollout of a brand
campaign in India largely intended to create a stronger connect with
customers.
One common thread in both events is that
the Kodiaq will make its way into the Indian market next year along with
three other products including the Octavia Rs. and
a Rapid refresh.
The focus on SUVs is in line with Skoda’s Strategy
2025 which has identified this product category as a key growth engine.
And
even while its market share in India is little to write home about, the
strong SUV momentum here is enough reason to be part of the action.
This is evident from the heady market response to products like Maruti’s
Vitara Brezza and the Hyundai Creta.
In this
backdrop, Kodiaq becomes integral to the product launches planned in
2017 even while Sudhir Rao, Chairman and Managing Director of the Indian
operations, and his team have pulled out all stops to put the house in
order.
A lot of work has gone into preparing a strong back-end which is
expected to translate into better sales and service.
The idea is to
ensure greater transparency which will lead to higher footfalls at
dealerships.
In a way, Skoda is starting from scratch
all over again which may seem a tad ironical considering that it was
the one to herald the premium sedan (D-segment) wave with the Octavia
nearly 15 years ago.
It had everything going in its favour beginning
with the first mover advantage but it was only a matter of time before
rivals caught up. In addition, Skoda had its own internal issues to
grapple with and is now keen on putting all this behind while embarking
upon its new innings.
Globally, China is its most
relevant market right now in terms of numbers (2.81 lakh cars sold in
2015) which makes India’s tally of barely 16,000 units seem almost
Lilliputian in comparison. And for all the talk of a slowdown, the
Chinese market still accounted for sales of 1.46 lakh Skoda cars in the
first half of this calendar which means the half million mark annually
could be comfortably achieved by the end of this decade.
Yet,
what India offers is a rapidly growing base of affluent buyers who
value premium products and this is where the Czech brand is attempting
to reposition itself strongly all over again. It will, of course, have
to contend with the likes of Mercedes, Audi and BMW which are no
pushovers and are already going flat out to woo customers in the luxury
space.
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