[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Confirmation that the Skoda Rapid is getting discontinued in India with the matte edition.


Source

Replacement is the Skoda Slavia, as announced during the release of the covered media drives yesterday.

[CEF_Beasts]

Skoda Auto India has stopped production of the Rapid after 10 years, to make way for the Slavia. The last batch of cars were the limited edition Matte finished ones. Has garnered 100,000 customers over the years and still managed to hold onto 10% market share in the segment this year.



https://twitter.com/zac_hollis_/stat...910405120?s=21

[MegaWhat]

Looking at other threads on the forum, I have a feeling the Polo is going to go the same way as well. Time shall tell.

[Shreyas_H]

Yeah it's likely the Polo will follow the same route.

In the VW/Skoda shared factory why keep a PQ platform vehicle when everything else is MQB 0-IN

Vento barely sells and they will probably sell enough of Virtus+Slavia to justify shutting down Polo plus Rapid.

[Axe77]

Sad that the Polo will likely shut too. It leaves virtually no meaningful competition to the N Line i20 - not a great thing for pricing as well as choices for the customer.

I do hope they have some premium hatch offering also at some point. A mature market (if I can call us that) should ideally have multiple options across body styles and types.

[hrman]

Hmm. There goes the value of my Rapid in the used car market

For the 9.5 years I have had it, I found it to be pleasure to drive, not too high on maintenance and rust free even after so many years (Another Honda city I use already started rusting in 5 years).
The only issue was the Dieselgate due to which I stopped going to the Skoda A.S.S. to prevent the remap and started giving it to my FNG for routine maintenance and repair. But at least better than Ford who is closing doors permanently.

[shancz]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Confirmation that the Skoda Rapid is getting discontinued in India with the matte edition.

Replacement is the Skoda Slavia, as announced during the release of the covered media drives yesterday.

Bulleye with your prediction in some other thread

Waiting for the embargo to lift on the Slavia and like you mentioned hoping for an early resolution to the EPC issue.

Barring the EPC issue, things look promising for Skoda and VW with their 2.0 strategy and guessing the new and larger Polo will also be a MQB-A0-IN too.

So the future is Alfa vs Heartect vs MQB-A0-IN leaving Hyundai as the one with a diversified platform portfolio ?

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by shancz

So the future is Alfa vs Heartect vs MQB-A0-IN leaving Hyundai as the one with a diversified platform portfolio ?

Guess Hyundai did it years ago with the K platform. Both Hyundai and Kia use the K platform for literally most of their models sold here

[GTO]

Farewell, old friend! Have driven the Rapid with so many engine + gearbox options that it's hard to keep count. From the 1.6 MPI to the 1.6 TDI, the TSI, 1.5L TDI DSG and what not. The Rapid might be old, but is still competent. I'd have a hard time choosing between it & the 5th-gen City today. Says a lot! I'd taken the 1.5L TDI DSG for a road-trip to Deolali & still remember that drive very fondly.

Originally Posted by hrman

Hmm. There goes the value of my Rapid in the used car market

Car served you well for almost 10 years, no? Then why the frustrated icon. Instead, go out for a long drive this weekend and celebrate your ownership .

[shancz]

Originally Posted by DicKy

Guess Hyundai did it years ago with the K platform. Both Hyundai and Kia use the K platform for literally most of their models sold here

Thanks didn't know that
Had confused it with the model codes in the Hyundai India vs Developed markets thread, my bad.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by hrman

Hmm. There goes the value of my Rapid in the used car market

Credit where due - Skoda is probably discontinuing the Rapid in the best way possible. Reminds me of Mitsubishi with their 'final editions'.

Instead of dragging it along as an oldie (siblings are 12 years old, almost) with discounts and basic engines (or even downgrading it as a taxi variant - like FIAT did with the Linea Classic) - they have ensured it gets a very premium edition to finish off the inventory with, is probably having one of the best engines it ever had during it's lifetime (except the 1.6 TDI maybe) and a worthy replacement.

Speaking of the replacement - it will mostly be even more of an enthusiast's car than the Rapid ever was - mainly thanks to the 1.5 TSi option. I'm a fan of the practicality of crossovers on Indian roads - but just can't wait to drive the Slavia 1.5 TSi DSG.

Word is also spreading on the good fuel efficiency of these new-age TSI motors and thats a solid advantage in the Indian market.

[TorqueIndia]

Rapid was a consistent seller for long time at 2K units, 100K total sales is a pretty good number for Skoda. Rapid was an exciting proposal even at its end of life.

Also does that mean along with Rapid, Polo and Vento will be out of production ?

[shancz]

Originally Posted by TorqueIndia

Also does that mean along with Rapid, Polo and Vento will be out of production ?

Yes, like the Kushaq and then the Taigun, offset by a few weeks/months.
They already have the matte editions of the Polo out and guessing the same for Vento.

Vento should be replaced with a Slavia derived sedan and hoping the same and best for the Polo which might also introduce us to the Fabia again.

[veedub89]

Thank god Skoda isn't doing a Honda by having two generations of the same model being on sale at the same time.

Contrary to what most people think, human beings don't like making decisions. And the more complicated the decision you ask him/her to make the higher the chances that there will be procrastination or avoidance altogether. Having two models, one old and one new is in my opinion, a needlessly complicated decision. Sure the new model is better, but how much better? Very tough to put a number on it. Especially if you are the non-enthusiast variety.

The Slavia has a good opportunity to pick up where the Rapid left off.
And yeah, the Slavia will be pricier than the Rapid. But Skoda can definitely pull it off if they provide enough value for that money. The Slavia won't have too much competition any way.

[SS8939]

It's good to see activity from the VW group in India after a period of radio silence.

The bigger question is, what products do they plan to bring next?

Skoda:
1. With the launch of the Slavia, they are the only manufacturer to have a presence across three important price points (Slavia/Octavia/Superb) with respect to sedans.

2. Skoda is missing the Fabia, a compact SUV to rival the Venue/Sonet and the Karoq. Doing this will give them a full product portfolio from 10-40 lakhs of both sedans and SUV's. (Kodiaq facelift is also coming).

Volkswagen:
1. They will not have any sedans outside of Virtus. I assume Ameo will also be discontinued. But given their "SUVW" strategy, they may not care for sedans either way.

2. Given that, they still need the new Polo and a compact SUV.

Compact SUV's and hatchbacks can ofcourse come from MQB-A0-IN. However, VAG has been averse to calling them their international names if they have been Indianised. They probably see them as different products (T-Cross/Taigun).

Zack has already said cars like the Karoq won't come again. But surely there's more to India 2.0 than just four new cars and renovated showrooms?