[sabynag]

Car discount depends on two primary factors :

1. A compelling need for the manufacturer to offer discount
2. Ability of the manufacturer to give the discount

For CKD manufacturers like Skoda, the need is dominated by unsold inventory and the ability is dominated by Euro-INR exchange rate at the time of kit import.
I noticed in another thread that Laura TSI bought in December had a manufacturing stamp of Aug-09. This confirms inventory build up at Aurangabad. This also suggests another thing - Skoda's ability to offer discount will increase in coming months. Here is the hypothesis - cars built in Aug-09 were probably imported in Jun-July. If you look up Euro-INR exchange rate, INR appreciated around 10% in subsequent months until Oct. So kits coming during this period were cheaper for Skoda and if needed they can pass on this saving to the customer to clear inventory. If you notice, Skoda didn't change MRP (to hedge against subsequent exchange rate fluctuations) - they are only discounting the invoice by about 8% (same as exchange rate change). Cars manufactured in Jan-10 onwards will not have the "ability" advantage as INR has fallen back to June-09 level. So, I expect price to remain flat (i.e. discount continuing) till March and increase after that.

[imp!]

Originally Posted by GTO

Certainly not cheating, Imp. Take it from someone who closely follows the market, its trends, practices and EACH car sold in India.

I have changed the title yet again (final time please) to something more accommodating.

Thanks GTO !!

Never meant to indicate it was cheating, just unethical; obviously the price hike is to satisfy the marketing campaign promise from last month.

[vkochar]

The luxury market in India is a niche one when compared to the A & B segment.

Deals and discounts vary tremendously from dealer to dealer. I have seen differences of upto 50k in Skoda & GM dealerships in the same city !!

The Laura is a new car and has a brilliant engine and year end discounts on this were quite a few. I know someone personally who got a cash discount of 75k on Dec 27th and the colour was Black ( he wanted white ) but he opted for black.

The company gives out a certain discount allowance BUT it is upto the dealer in the end to give year end discounts as he is the one who will have to keep the car with him if it does not sell by December. So I will not blame Skoda here.

Be happy with the car. And where is a report ? Pics also please

[condor]

sabynag : Car discount depends on two primary factors :

1. A compelling need for the manufacturer to offer discount
2. Ability of the manufacturer to give the discount

An early discussion on TBHP reg Skoda Octy - before Skoda launched it - was about Skoda's plan to price the cars at about 6L. Yes, 6L (there's even a cover of one of the car mags where the article appeared).

The cars were launched at a much higher price. I dont think there would be much errors in working out the pricing of importing the kits. Or about estimating cost of running an assembly plant + dealership network. They are from the same industry, after all.

Now, assuming some numbers :
Lets allow for some mistakes in Skoda's assessment of costs. Even at 20%, the launch price would be 7.2L. Ex-showroom. But the price was closer to 10L. So eithe

If the launch price was much higher, then did Skoda build in that big a buffer into the price - and can now afford increasingly larger discounts ?

[sabynag]

With so much negative sentiments towards Skoda in India, I thought of checking the European sentiments towards this brand. The following two jokes summarize the European perception :


"this one's a classic:
-why are skoda dealerships on top of hills?
-So u cant take them back."

"this is what I got at work when I mentioned I was buying Octavia:

- How do you double the value of a Skoda?
- You fill up the tank

- What is the new convertible model of Skoda called?
- Skip"

[imp!]

Saby,

I wonder if one can generalize like that. In the UK, they are considered work horses, and there are many octavias running around with 4 lac + kms. Even in India there are several people with lots of miles on their octavias with no issues whatsoever. A lot of negative publicity has been generated because of a few really bad dealers.
They are by no means exciting cars in Europe, with VW's, Audi and BMW's all available much cheaper there, than they are here, one can imagine many willing to shell out more for one of those than for a Skoda, in-fact, even in our case, if VW was offering the same engines then we would have bought VW, even for a premium.