In a bid to expand its market share in the Indian market, the Czech Republic carmaker, Skoda is planning to launch a couple of new products and facelift models of many of its cars. In next one year, Skoda Auto India will launch the next-generation Fabia, facelifted Rapid and 2014 Yeti. While much has been already talked about the aforementioned cars, in this article we'll talk about a new global SUV that Skoda is currently working on, which will enter our shores as well.
The new SUV will be bigger and more expensive than the Skoda Yeti, which is already perceived as a 'too expensive' vehicle. It was the high pricing that compelled the company to phase out the Fabia and led to the failure of a really capable product like Yeti. So, the question here is, how will the company manage to position a bigger and more premium SUV, when it's struggling to sell even the Yeti. For that, the company will pick the route of higher localisation, which will bring the cost of most its models down. For instance, the Skoda Rapid currently has 60-65% local content, which will go up to 80 percent and bring the vehicle's price considerably lower. And if the company chooses the same path, we might also see compratively lesser expensive versions of the Fabia and the Yeti.
As mentioned above, a lesser expensive Yeti will leave a space for the bigger SUV that the company is planning to bring in. While the Yeti is called an 'A' category SUV by Skoda, the new seven-seater SUV will be an 'A Plus' in the company's language. The new SUV will be launched globally in 2016-17 including India. If rumours are to be believed, the new SUV will be built on Volkswagen's versatile MQB platform, and will have a length of 4.6 metres. Engine options to be made available with the car could be a 1.6-litre petrol and a 2.0-litre diesel.
