[Romeo_Mike]

What's with the weird looking asymmetrical wheel well intrusions into the boot? Or is it just me?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Romeo_Mike

What's with the weird looking asymmetrical wheel well intrusions into the boot? Or is it just me?

I think thats to accomodate the fuel lid and pipe and associated components. Just made me realise that this car has fuel filling on the drivers side. All cars I have had so far is on the other side.

[KI07]

Originally Posted by Akhileshmdp

I frankly do not understand why Skoda is playing this game, definitely some lesson needed from the marketing gurus as to what is going on behind the scenes.

I think they are gonna be pricing the car aggressively, I think the active will start at 9.99L (introductory) and the 1.0 style AT will be 14.99L
The reveal of only the 1.0L and not the 1.5L will integrate the max price of Slavia at 14.99 instead of 16.99 or more for the 1.5AT.

[sassid]

Most car purchases in India are collective purchases, in that they reflect the consolidated aspirations of the primary buyer, their family and their extended social circle.

In other words every purchase is a compromise.

I mean this in the best way possible. As an enthusiast buyer you can at best hope to get your own way 50% of the time (if you are lucky!)

In my own case, I went from a Linea T-Jet (100% my choice) to a Ciaz (from all the guilt my family loaded on me for the pathetic resale value post 5 years on the Linea) and then to a Sonnet (Family pressure again).

(As full disclosure - Yes, I am not a good inside the family negotiator as I’m just batting 33% for own choice over the last three instances. You will do better! )

So in this slightly twisted way, I appreciate the Slavia. Yes the quality is down a bit - but the cabin is large and it has the all important …. features! The cabin may shake and rattle a bit over the years - but its surely going to be better than the Ciaz!

So what I am trying to say is that this is a compromise buy that I can get the family to rally around. So I suddenly go from a spot where I could never get a green signal for a Rapid (My choice over the Ciaz) to perhaps replacing the Sonnet in due course with a Slavia.

As a downtrodden member of the average Indian nominal family head club - I see this as a rare win

[TechSavvy]

How much will the 1.5 push with a stage 1?

[thanixravindran]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Had a chance to check out the Skoda Slavia at the dealership service centre today.

Style and Ambition variants were available. Short first impressions -

Hi Crazy Driver - Did you got a chance to open the bonnet and check whether bonnet insulation is provided? I think this is one of the big miss in Kushaq 1.0 TSI.

I see that they have corrected the interior color (Beige) to Indian preferences . But from the pics, I can see most of the features are same and most parts must have been reused so that full cost benefit can be realized due to the increased volumes. I believe Skoda-VW would have based the parts cost targets with a volume of 10,000 cars per month from the 4 variants in same platform.

So expecting a complete different parts set in Slavia (and by extension Virtus) within a short time frame of Kushaq/Taigun launch is not possible as engineering them will take time.

[vagman]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

Hi Crazy Driver - Did you got a chance to open the bonnet and check whether bonnet insulation is provided? I think this is one of the big miss in Kushaq 1.0 TSI.

No bonnet insulation was present in the 1.0 TSI Style variant I saw.

[vamsy]

I just had a quick call with Mahavir Skoda in Hyderabad. They have a 1.0 litre style manual on display and no 1.5 top end yet. Upon enquiry, the salesman mentioned that the 1.0 litre automatic style will cost around 20.18 lakhs on road. He said that the 1.5 litre style dsg will set us back by 22.5 lakhs on road.

[Jhinchak]

I wonder why they announced two dates of launch just a couple of days apart?
Are they looking at market feedback for the 1.0 TSI and maybe correct the prices of the 1.5 TSI based on it.

[Tony2298]

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

This is what Honda did when they launched the Gen4 City. Terrible cost cutting, poor quality components and absolute disregard to brand reputation and customer expectations. Once the initial hoopla died, sales tapered off and have never really recovered, despite the stellar fuel economy.

Brands should never cheapen out on their core values.

+1 to this, I absolutely agree with your statement about Honda's flawed strategy, when they first started their Indian innings they provided us with expensive though very good quality products and the cars like 8th Gen Civic, Accord and C-RV even though were offered in petrol-only variants they did really good for their time and they were the preferred brand in corporate and business world but a decade earlier God knows what happened they just started to ape Suzukis and swayed away from their traditional strengths just to gain market share and revenue but their strategy went wrong and like you mentioned no one actually preferred these cars only because they lost their original DNA and just became another mass-market generic cars. Honda India as of now has lost everything their legendary quality, no outlook towards capturing premium end of the market and their brand value has also lost its old appeal and charm, cross-quoting my post from Škoda Rapid thread,(coming from the bottom of the heart of a diehard Honda fan)

It actually feels extremely bad not just the customer who feels shortchanged that he has been offered less for more but we brand loyalists also feel extremely sad when this happens as we became fanboys of these brands only since we loved because of their child-like passion in making cars and offering the taste of their huge R&D at a price we can afford but when the OEMs sway away from these virtues and just try to maximise their margin just like other OEMs, it hurts even more than a knife stab(almost reminds me of Julius Caesar's saying when he was stabbed by his best friend-"Et tu Brute?!"), I know that you are a diehard VAG fan, the amount of love and passion you have for VW cars, the same amount of love and respect I had for Honda once upon a time and I ranked them even higher than the Quality Revolutionary Toyota in my books because of the fact that when they were at their prime in India they gave as much attention to detail and QC control in their cars like Toyota but unlike the latter which made most of their cars vanilla plain Honda spiced up their cars with snazzy styling, futuristic interiors, fun handling and dynamics and of course their extremely rev-happy and energetic VTEC motors.

All was going good until and unless Honda in around 2014 changed their priorities to maximise profits and embrace on cutting costs openly, all their newer cars had innumerable QC issues and even the parts quality had gone down the drain, to be very honest some of their offerings were even worse than budget leader Suzuki, though VAG hasn't stooped to that level now but the early signs and symptoms of India specific 2.0 strategy is sending a chill down my spine since I never want to see VAG at the same level where Honda India is as of now since time and again one thing has been established and is written on the wall that Indians love budget-friendly cars but absolutely hate those cars which scream budget, we have a long long list of such cars, don't we and at the other end of the spectrum we have those cars as well which did cut corners but at those places where only discerning few would look at not the common people, those cars turned out to be a smashing hit.

I really hope that VAG takes note of the same and makes necessary changes in their product planning and make such cars which at least live up to their brand name which has been made by them after a lot of time, money, blood and sweat, just don't let that tarnish away for some margin and market share. I really don't want to see VAG in the shoes of Honda India or the quitters like Ford and GM.

[Venkatesh]

Skoda Slavia joins the heritage of Skoda's Sedan offerings.

ŠKODA OCTAVIA established ŠKODA AUTO India as the pioneer of superior quality Sedans, and continues to appeal to discerning owners for its value and performance.

Does Skoda India hints that Slavia will be a premium offering?





Link

[Romeo_Mike]

Originally Posted by audioholic

I think thats to accomodate the fuel lid and pipe and associated components. Just made me realise that this car has fuel filling on the drivers side. All cars I have had so far is on the other side.

Oh ok. Its just that I have never seen asymmetric wheel well intrusions in any other car. So looked kind of strange.

[stringbh]

Originally Posted by sassid

So what I am trying to say is that this is a compromise buy that I can get the family to rally around. So I suddenly go from a spot where I could never get a green signal for a Rapid (My choice over the Ciaz) to perhaps replacing the Sonnet in due course with a Slavia.

This in itself summarises what Skoda has tried to do !

Drivers car to a family sedan. It requires compromises !

[ron178]

Škoda announces competition for a test drive of the Slavia in Goa:
Entry form

Entries close on 15 February at 6 p.m.

[bwildrd#1]

Not sure if it's mentioned before in this thread. Slavia's front passenger seat has height adjustable mechanism