This, IMO, is the main reason Skoda cannot launch the Fabia. I had the chance to check out the Fabia in Europe, and the interior space was terrible. Its fine in the EU where they buy small cars for precisely that reason i.e being small, but in India, most buyers buy small cars because they cannot afford a larger car. Hence, even if a car is small from the outside, it needs to offer as much space as possible inside. And this is something the Fabia just cannot do.
Not sure on this part. The latest Overdrive issue rates skoda service above stalwarts like Maruti.
VW has some of the best diesel engines in the world, and infact, this is the only area where the Fabia would be on par with the others.
Looks are subjective and we've seen that if the car is fundamentally good, people will overlook oddball designs (Santro!).
Its got more than enough power for is class. Remember, the Octavia TDi has only 90bhp, but you'd never guess that from the way it moves. On paper specs tell you only a small bit of the story.
So basically, Skoda cannot launch the Fabia because it is far too small a car, and it would be far to expensive to find a niche in that class. Also, with more diesels present in that class (Verna CRDi, Fiesta), its USP of a diesel will not hold good.
However, the new Fabia is scheduled to make its international debut soon, so going by Skoda history, should we expect Skoda India to import the old Fabia's machinery here and begin selling this model at a lower price? I hope not, but we really can never be sure in this market.