[ChiragM]

According to a media report, Skoda is targetting annual sales of 1,00,000 cars a year by 2025 in India. This is despite the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting downturn.



Skoda Auto Volkswagen India Private Limited is also targetting a market share of 5% by 2025. The company is not holding back investments either and is looking to make India one of its top 5 markets by 2025. The group could invest Rs. 7,900 crore by 2021. Skoda is expected to launch new vehicles including an SUV based on the MQB A0 IN platform. The company plans to expand its number of dealership touchpoints from 80 in 65 cities to more than 200 across 150 cities by 2025.

Skoda sold 16,692 units in 2018 and 15,284 units in 2019. It has a market share of 0.52%.

Source

Link to Team-BHP News

[Doge]

Inspiring.
If Skoda can sell that many cars here after one of the worst economic periods since decades, than I will also sell 100,000 bikini's and beach shorts in Ladakh.
This is probably a bunch of top level exec's trying to make their bosses oversees happy, who cares if you don't get there? By 2025 they would be selling a million Blackberry's in North Korea or whatever

[ObsessedByFIAT]

With some really absurd pricing for a few of thier products, no diesel in line up ( which was actually their strong point) and horror stories of after sales and service, yes, they are right on track to achieve the milestone they have set out for themselves!

Apart from the above reasons, may be a bit too old, however, people still haven't forgotten the diesel gate.
Servicing costs, which are slightly on the higher side.

No doubt, they have some the most timeless designs, solid built quality, excellent driving dynamics. However, does the aam junta really want this or they want a real value of money product?

Good luck VW / Skoda for the aim you have setout for yourself!

[fhdowntheline]

Its possible if they really have a plan to do a Toyota-MSIL kind of a tie-up AND a killer product in the hatchback/CSUV segment that is pocket friendly to owners, as well as available for sale and serviceable across hundreds of cities (not just 150) in India, all within the next 6 months. Otherwise someone is sniffing the latest and best.

[Bibendum90949]

The investment part is a positive news. It means they're walking the talk with their India 2.0 plan and the foot is very much on the pedal. In a way it's reassuring for people who're contemplating to buy cars from the Skoda stable.

Originally Posted by ObsessedByFIAT

With some really absurd pricing for a few of thier products, no diesel in line up ( which was actually their strong point)

In fact they've not totally exited the diesel portfolio. If they see the market is demanding diesel, they're open to reinstating them. Same was confirmed by Zac Hollis in a recent interview.

[anjan_c2007]

Skoda as of now posts two digit and rarely three digit figure, monthly sales for its present models. A few Volkswagen models usually post three, or sometimes four figure sales per month. VW's portfolio for the hatch and sedan markets is dated. It may bring in some new life into its sales figures with the new SUV.

Hence in this backdrop, talking of six figure annual sales by the carmaker is like an eight year old sprinter being coached and on cloud nine, saying he will win many gold medals at the forthcoming Olympics.

[GTO]

1 lakh cars / year is ~8000 cars / month. Skoda currently does ~1200 cars / month, so what they are talking about is a SIX - SEVEN times increase in volumes. Difficult, but not impossible. Look at how the Renault-Nissan group increased their volumes similarly with a success like the Kwid (and Redi-GO). Or Kia & the Seltos which is a regular 10,000 / month performer.

Skoda has an SUV and a sedan coming up on the MQB A0-IN platform. If it's well-priced and offers a killer package (aka Creta / Seltos), I don't see why it isn't possible. But again, things aren't going to be easy either.

A single blockbuster product and another decently-successful line-up should do it. But will Skoda hit the bull's eye? Interesting times ahead.

[AYP]

Only SUVs have the potential to increase their sales numbers. Of course, with SUV, comes a diesel engine. Oh wait! There ain't one with the VAG Group for their 'smaller cars'(even the 2.0 maybe delayed if and when it returns to the VAG cars in India). While the acceptance for petrol in SUVs is increasing, I don't see it exceeding the diesel sales in the near future, not before 2025 surely.

Thus in the short to medium term, to get anywhere near this target they need to-

1. Bring many SUVs to India at a 'value' proposition.

2. Bring back diesel engine to SUVs as for many Indians, value will be seen in an SUV only if it comes equipped with a diesel engine. Again, bringing back only the bigger 2.0 will not work as most of sales will take place from their smaller offerings(in the C segment). Of course they can always plonk the 2.0 in their smaller cars and offer us a tremendous value

In the long term, they need higher levels of localisation to cut down on service and spares cost. Offering higher segment cars as CKD and not CBU should be another thing which they need to consider. Even though the CKD models will not bring higher volumes, they will give the existing customer something to upgrade for within the Skoda family at a reasonable cost.

At the end of it, I am happy that a European brand has plans to stay invested in India. If only they bring back their diesels.

[AMG Power]

This is like Maruti wanting to enter the premium segment with the Kizashi. A wonderful car, was benchmarked against the C and A4 and handled better than both. Still the car was a market flop because customers did not associate Maruti with premium cars. When they wanted premium they went to brands associated with premium and unfortunately Maruti didn't fall into that category.

Skoda has USP's with all its cars and their cars were never mass market. Skoda could lose the plot if it tries to get into the numbers game and take on the Koreans and Japs on home turf.

The VW group has always had strategies that start with grand announcements but peter out slowly. Case in point initially it was VW to lead India, Skoda to play second fiddle. Then it became the other way around with Skoda leading. Now it's 100,000 cars.

Skoda cannot handle this level of cars as their processes are not tuned for mass market. Take warranty approvals for instance. Hyundai and Maruti do it within minutes whereas Skoda has DIS approval procedures that take ages.

It will not be possible to change processes for Skoda India alone as they apply throughout the VW Group and factors such as technician / Service Manager training etc are all based on these and common for the group. Part of the disadvantages of being a German global player.

Skoda doing 100,000 cars by 2025? Not by a long shot.

[Nalin1]

They have set a goal and aimed for it.

Nothing wrong in aiming for the skies!.

A quality analyst once kept pointing at my minor mistakes in work. When I told him, "nobody is perfect".

His response still rings in my ears. "Yes, nobody is perfect!. But your effort to become perfect can make you better".

There is no doubting the ability of Skoda's machines.

[theautoman]

This is Skoda's new Pipe Dream, their products are not aimed at mass market, they have a premium brand identity and make cars that are not really considered as value for money products.

There is also the cannibalization of few products by VW, coupled with the terrible reputation in the ASS department, and selling CBU cars with a fixed quota for each company. The likelihood of achieving the said sales figures are slim to none.

But on the other hand, the buyer confidence in the brand longevity might increase if Skoda Auto really puts its money where its mouth is, this is something to look forward to.

[AYP]

The following in the recent interview of Mr. Zac Hollis with Autocar India-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihLsBYHoqcw&t=937s

A few pointers which I could gain form their conversation-

1. Practically negligible chance of bringing small diesels back to India.

2. CKD Karoq will be available if it makes a business sense. It is not cast in stone yet.

On one hand, it is good that Mr. Zac is being honest, but then, it is also a good point to consider for the prospective Karoq owners as being a car which may or may not be in the market once the CBU quota gets over will bring with it multiple problems.

3. Skoda is not really bothered about there not being a diesel option in the Superb. As per Mr. Zac, 65% of the Superb sales were coming from the petrol variant. On a similar line, there's a strong chance that Skoda won't be bothered to bring the 2.0 diesel in the next-gen Octavia.


There are other positives like introduction of the 1.0 TSi and the Rider variant at a superb price but with all the above points taken into account, I don't see how they can achieve their highly optimistic sales target.

[srishiva]

Its doable if they price their cars just about 1 or 2 lakhs above their competitors for the build they provide. Right now the price difference is too high. They should also show some spine to manufacture cars here instead of easier CBUs. Diesels will always win in cars costing above 15 lakhs and they need to continue doing that with ATs.

[jinu_joseph]

Actually this is not a new target. Skoda has always maintained that by 2025 they want to command 5% of the Indian market Refer this link where their global CEO Bernhard Maier made the statement in 2017.

This commitment to the target was reiterated again in 2018 by Mr Maier accompanied by an investment of 1 billion euros in India. Refer to this link

And now in 2020, they are just repeating the same. If they are able to follow through on their India 2.0 plan, they should achieve their targets. Their India 2.0 plan intends to achieve 90-95% localization for all cars manufactured under the India 2.0 plan which should start rolling out in mid 2021 (Source)

[Heart_Revs]

Hyundai Creta which does all things well for aam junta sells about 4500 copies a month.

To sell 8000-9000 cars a month VAG needs at least 2 super block buster products.

Now please remind me which of thier current offering or future one appears to be a blockbuster ?