[Aditya]

EDIT: Adding GTO's post dated 18th March 2015:

Originally Posted by GTO

Guys,

Unfortunately, the money control article is off the mark.

I just spoke to a Skoda spokesperson. As of now, there are no concrete plans to launch the Fabia in India. Of course, Skoda is 'evaluating' the premium hatchback segment, but that's what all manufacturers do on a continuous basis. There's nothing newsworthy in that.

Thread title has been suitably edited.

Czech carmaker Skoda has revealed that it is planning to bring the Fabia hatchback back to India as a premium offering.

Link to Team-BHP News Article



The Fabia saw poor sales in its previous stint in India. Skoda tried to push the car's sales by announcing multiple price cuts, but was not successful. The company was losing a sizeable amount of money on every unit of the Fabia sold and finally, Skoda had to pull the car out of the market.



Last year, Skoda reworked its strategy for India and has repositioned itself from being a mass market player to a value-luxury brand. This has resulted in lower sales, but higher profits for the company. The company claims to be benefitting from sharing manufacturing infrastructure with sister companies, Volkswagen and Audi. It has also delinked its pricing mechanism from that of Volkswagen. Skoda also claims to have started focusing on customer satisfaction.



The Premium hatchback segment in India is growing. Hyundai's Elite i20 has been successful and sells at more than 9,000 units a month on a regular basis. With Maruti Suzuki planning to launch the YRA and Honda about to re-introduce the Jazz, Skoda will not want to be left behind.

Source: Money Control

[Poloprasad]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Skoda is planning to re-launch the Fabia in India.

Link to Team-BHP News Article

Excellent product to compete with the products of Suzuki and Honda. But in terms of service Skoda would fail miserably when compared with the above Japanese players.

[ajaypjayaraj]

That's good news! Despite of how the market responded in the case of previous generation, this is one good hatchback with great build quality. The product is good. Now if they can improve on the A.S.S., and price it wisely, I think Fabia still has a chance especially with the new generation which IMO is a good improvement.

[21Archer84]

Skoda India should have done it long ago. Better late than never. However, there's no mention on the timing of launch. As a Fabia owner, feel that the car as a package was launched at a wrong time with wrong pricing. Adding to it the woes of A.S.S. Pleasure of driving it is second to none though.
However, I see change in the way the Service guys handling customers. Got a surprise call the other day from service centre as my car is due for service. Hope the re-launch will improve the sales number for Skoda India as it's selling well in Europe.

[miharbe]

Skoda should bring the TSI + DSG combination with all the bells and whistles. They should pit it against the GT TSI and they have a winner on their hands.

I feel Skoda shouldn't bother launching the MPI variant but should focus on getting the best engine technology with all the goodies. That way they can command a premium and also justify it for once.

I have been eyeing the GT TSI for a while now but will happily go for this if we get the engines and kit available on the Euro versions.

[phreakv6]

There are a few things that catch attention in the news article.

"Last year Skoda reworked its strategy for India and has repositioned itself from being a mass market player to a value-luxury brand".

"It has also delinked its pricing mechanism from that of Volkswagen."

"Skoda also claims to have started focusing on customer satisfaction."

These are all excellent stratagems and if the last one there is attempted genuinely along with the first two, it can truly be success. Bring in the face-lifted fabia and the euro-spec rapid and price them on par or above VW offerings (similar to how Octavia is specced and priced above the jetta) and they could really be onto something.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Skoda is planning to re-launch the Fabia in India.

Link to Team-BHP News Article

Now this is an interesting turn of events!

The Fabia will be a great alternative to the Polo. It is bound to be a little more spacious (as it always has been) and should offer similar driving dynamics too.

I don't see too many takers for the new Fabia, especially if it's going to be priced at 10 lakhs, which I think is what we should expect.

[21Archer84]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

I don't see too many takers for the new Fabia, especially if it's going to be priced at 10 lakhs, which I think is what we should expect.

I Agree and Disagree on the pricing. With such a tag it's going to be in Rapid's territory and will not have enough buyers that the old gen had. But looking at the new Octavia's price, Skoda can definitely price it higher, especially when they announce that they are going to be a value-luxury auto brand.

[phreakv6]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

I don't see too many takers for the new Fabia, especially if it's going to be priced at 10 lakhs, which I think is what we should expect.

There is a pretty good market of buyers who want something different from the usual and moderately expensive to announce their social standing. Unfortunately there are hardly any cars that cater to such a market in the 10L segment other than the elite i20 and the GT twins. This will be a growing segment among 2nd time buyers and there is a big space for newer players because "something new and nice to look at" plays a big part in the decision-making. If the product is fun to drive and backed by a good service network as well, this segment is bound to grow as the elite i20 just showed us. People will pay for quality and the marginal exclusivity it offers.

[The Observer]

This is promising, i guess this new Fabia is already sold and running well in China.

Talking about positioning and the competition with the Polo GT twins, Elite i20 and Jazz, its not going to win for obvious reasons BUT Skoda can be clever to position this ONLY as a premium hatchback with no base variant nonsense or cutting down of any features - yes i am dreaming

Once Skoda launches this new Fabia in India , i assume the rapid will also get the new front grille otherwise the rapid will be the only Skoda to sport the old style front grille.

Now assuming the new Fabia will come in after the new Rapid ( new front grille et al) and if positioned as premium with ALL the bell and whistles it comes with in its home country, then i am sure there will be a dedicated pool of customers queuing up to buy this car, yes it wont sell as many as the Elite i20 or the Jazz , but will succeed in boosting the Fabia's and brand's image in India. The Fabia can be positioned as a SOLID Safe hatchback which is good to drive and spacious enough ( definitely more roomier than the polo but not as much as the i20 or Jazz , which are spacious but not solid enough) and with all of its clever little features , options to have some sporty color combinations - can create a nice niche for itself. My favourite is the red and grey package.

http://www.skoda-auto.com/en/models/...terLiteWebPart

Yes ownership costs for Skoda will still be an Achilles heel, it will take solid effort and years to correct this image, but nevertheless Skoda has a sort of following in India it can bank on. It is still the one of the few cars having a SOLID (build) , available in India in the value range.

Ultimately what i am saying is Skoda can carve a small niche for itself in the luxury hatchback segment instead of trying its luck in the value hatchback segment in which it will never succeed in terms of nos, nor do any good to its image. If there is one car that can implement the same strategy and succeed it is the Jazz , but it is very likely that Honda will water it down.

Imagine a EURO 5 star NCAP rating car being offered with no reduction in features in India , it can turn out to be one true luxury hatchback, meanwhile posting some pictures from the Skoda-auto.com /UK website which made me dream about all this.

[GTO]

Mod Note: Since it's more or less confirmed that the Fabia will be coming to India, posts have been moved out to a new thread.

[puchoo]

Happy to hear this as now being more or less confirmed , as a current Fabia owner it is extremely encouraging to hear this and timely as well since my existing Fabia would be up for a replacement next year anyway , if the new car is available by then , and it does happen to come with a DSG option then it would definitely be high on the list of potentials.

And personally i have little apprehension with Skoda in terms of either Ownership costs or servicing , it is close to 3.5 years and the car has never given any problems with the exception of 1 issue which i chose to be hung up on.

[shashank.nk]

This is great news! It looks a lot better than the previous generation and I remember the 3cyl diesel Fabia felt much nicer to drive than a 3cyl Polo diesel. I don't know how they manage it,but Skoda's with same engines feel much nicer to drive than VW cars.

If they're opting for premium pricing strategy,I really hope they offer TSI and the new TDI engines as well. May be with a manual option on the TSI! The previous gen had the best interior quality on a hatch,hopefully the new gen reclaims the title from elite i20.

I would also like to see the traditional phap-phap horn back than the current one on Rapid and Octavia

[Carpainter]

This is an interesting news. I think last time I heard that Skoda had no plan to launch the new Fabia in India. Anyway, this is a good news as it will give prospective B2 segment buyers one more option to look at. Skoda is notorious for its aftersales and has a very bad reputation in the market through out the country. With these bad image, it's hard to sale a mass market car in good numbers. So they'll have to get back customers' confidence and will have to price it properly. IMO they should skip the 1.2 MPI NA engine and bring only the TSI motor in manual/DSG.

P.S.- The silhouette of the car resembles to that of Polo and in that sense, I think I'll still pick the Polo over this one.

[Johnnny]

That's Good News !! If Fabia gets re-introduced in the indian Market, i believe it will affect the markets of both Punto & Polo and (who knows)maybe the new current Hottie i20 Elite. With new Figo and Jazz in the Pipeline , the competition in the hatchback segment has been further widened!! Fingers Crossed