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Old 26th March 2014, 09:29   #871
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re: Review: Skoda Octavia (3rd-gen)

For a car is hardly visible on the road anywhere,skoda sure if making a fuss about manufacturing and delivering octavias.I guess the company launched the model just for the sake of it,aiming to measure the market demand,when in actual they lacked the parts and processes to produce these cars on a large scale. I booked my Tdi elegance in december & the dealer still has no clue as to when i'll be getting the delivery..they, say as soon as they can,maybe in may.All this forced me to cancel the booking & i went ahead and booked an Audi Q3,and got the delivery in 5 days..
Probably the best decision of my life,as to who is to say what skoda after sales service would have been like,when their sales is such prompt and top notch!?
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Old 26th March 2014, 10:04   #872
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re: Review: Skoda Octavia (3rd-gen)

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Originally Posted by manu View Post
Congratulations Graaja, Jetta is a real good car.

Sad you couldn't make it to the Octavia club, but I agree, you waited long enough.

It's Skoda's loss, if anything :(
Thanks manu. Maybe the long waiting time of Octavia was a blessing in disguise for me. Hoping the delivery of the Jetta will goes smooth!

Quote:
Originally Posted by vishesh vats View Post
For a car is hardly visible on the road anywhere,skoda sure if making a fuss about manufacturing and delivering octavias.I guess the company launched the model just for the sake of it,aiming to measure the market demand,when in actual they lacked the parts and processes to produce these cars on a large scale. I booked my Tdi elegance in december & the dealer still has no clue as to when i'll be getting the delivery..they, say as soon as they can,maybe in may.All this forced me to cancel the booking & i went ahead and booked an Audi Q3,and got the delivery in 5 days..
Probably the best decision of my life,as to who is to say what skoda after sales service would have been like,when their sales is such prompt and top notch!?
Looks like some serious supply issues with the Octavia. For such a fantastic car, it is a pity Skoda did not correctly plan the supply! Wishing you thousands and thousands of happy miles with your Q3.
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Old 26th March 2014, 11:10   #873
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re: Review: Skoda Octavia (3rd-gen)

Quote:
Originally Posted by vishesh vats View Post
I booked my Tdi elegance in december & the dealer still has no clue as to when i'll be getting the delivery..they, say as soon as they can,maybe in may.All this forced me to cancel the booking & i went ahead and booked an Audi Q3,and got the delivery in 5 days.
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Originally Posted by graaja View Post
Looks like some serious supply issues with the Octavia. For such a fantastic car, it is a pity Skoda did not correctly plan the supply!
Well an automobile company needs to look at a lot of aspect during production of a car. There may be a sudden increase in demand when the car is launched and may subside later. So manufacturing needs to be in lesser units so as to prevent inventory pile up. VW made that mistake with Vento.

Also how many Octavia does Skoda plan to sell. After a steady stream of booking it would settle down to less than 300 units a month. Given D-Segment cars becoming lesser value for money and people upgrading to Audi A4/A3/Q3, Skoda Superb & VW Passat makes it even more difficult for any company to plan its manufacturing schedule & units.

Best part is even if people skip Skoda Octavia they would most probably be upgrading to Jetta, Q3 or any other VAG car. So its technically a win-win situation for both VW Group & customer.
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Old 26th March 2014, 18:45   #874
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re: Review: Skoda Octavia (3rd-gen)

As a brand, skoda is just mediocre in europe (its biggest market). In india, skoda is a premium brand (even the fabia was a premium hatch)

Inspite of huge demand for octavia in india, still looks like skoda (as a company) cares two hoots about it. Skoda has always treated indian market as 'pure 3rd world' which is why inspite of record# A.S.S complaints and customer dissatisfaction, for years, skoda has been losing market share and done nothing about it. Now, with VAG stepping in, they too dont seem to bother since most customers who end up cancelling octavia end up with jetta.

Just pains to see a wonderfully designed product :
- launched without any kind of market readiness testing (fuel compatibility, road readiness - for eg: the sunroof rattle issue)
- launched just for the heck of it without checking whether production can sustain even mediocre levels of demand
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Old 26th March 2014, 21:06   #875
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Originally Posted by venkyhere View Post
As a brand, skoda is just mediocre in europe (its biggest market). In india, skoda is a premium brand (even the fabia was a premium hatch)

Not true anymore. Skoda is no longer a down market brand - it is now clearly positioned as a premium mass market brand even as VW moves closer and closer to the luxury 3. Skoda used to be cheap but it is now clearly a VW for slightly less.
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Old 27th March 2014, 06:55   #876
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re: Review: Skoda Octavia (3rd-gen)

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Originally Posted by Hayek View Post
Not true anymore. Skoda is no longer a down market brand - it is now clearly positioned as a premium mass market brand even as VW moves closer and closer to the luxury 3. Skoda used to be cheap but it is now clearly a VW for slightly less.

I feel that skimping on basic mechanical specifications like independent rear suspension on a high performance car like the octavia, skimping on safety features on below top trim versions - does still imply a cheaper approach to things. Whatever else skoda may offer in terms of bells a whistles , an approach on similar lines to japanese and korean brands.

Probably in the next iteration of these models this approach may stop and then I would agree with your view.

Last edited by hubolt : 27th March 2014 at 07:03.
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Old 27th March 2014, 17:35   #877
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re: Review: Skoda Octavia (3rd-gen)

Finally got the car registered and the RTO didn't insist on seeing the engine number on the block. He did demand the ARAI certificate and TC approval certificate since it is the first Octavia registering at the RTO. A quick search reveled that it is available on the Kerala MVD website itself. Octavia ARAI certificate.

I was in for a shock though. The Octavia Ambition AT Diesel is not on the list! Even L&K AT and manual is listed but no Ambition AT Diesel. Thankfully the RTO didn't notice/care about it and the car got registered. I hope it is just a clerical error from either Marikar Motors or the MVD Kerala.
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Old 28th March 2014, 12:15   #878
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re: Review: Skoda Octavia (3rd-gen)

So guys, after 6 months of car hunting ,reading reviews and many opinions on this excellent forum and haggling with dealers for discounts/offers/handling charges etc. we finally decided to go ahead with our booking of Octavia Ambition A/T TDI. The dealer has promised delivery in 3-4 weeks. The wait begins!
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Old 28th March 2014, 13:58   #879
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re: Review: Skoda Octavia (3rd-gen)

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Originally Posted by ajindal View Post
The dealer has promised delivery in 3-4 weeks. The wait begins!
really ??
congrats to you - do remember to post pics and ownership review
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Old 28th March 2014, 15:46   #880
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Originally Posted by ajindal View Post
So guys, after 6 months of car hunting ,reading reviews and many opinions on this excellent forum and haggling with dealers for discounts/offers/handling charges etc. we finally decided to go ahead with our booking of Octavia Ambition A/T TDI. The dealer has promised delivery in 3-4 weeks. The wait begins!
That's one confident dealer.

Are you sure you heard him right? Maybe he said 3-4 months, which is par for the course when it comes to the Octavia :-P.

Jokes apart, you can count yourself lucky if indeed you get your car inside a month. My dealer has said 4 months but he is still not certain if I will get the car by then. Maybe the situation isn't as bad in Delhi.

Anyway, congratulations and here is hoping you get your car soon.
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Old 28th March 2014, 18:17   #881
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Congrats ajindal. Your dealer seems remarkably optimistic to me, but here's hoping he delivers it on time. I've heard of two cases on the forum where someone got their Octavia in a few days, but mostly it's been a wait of months.
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Old 28th March 2014, 20:33   #882
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Was at the dealer the other day to collect the freebies with the car. Mainly the media cable and the body cover and mud guards. Luckily the owner was in and since I do share a cordial relationship with him he shared with me the situation over a cup of coffee. He said I was really lucky since the company has allocated only 2 cars each for the month of April and May and this included the two dealerships he owns. So basically one car in a month for each of his dealership!
The timeframe now quoted by the company for a new booking delivery is 24 weeks for an elegance and 16-18 weeks for an ambition!
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Old 28th March 2014, 21:06   #883
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Originally Posted by rugsrags View Post
The timeframe now quoted by the company for a new booking delivery is 24 weeks for an elegance and 16-18 weeks for an ambition!
Thanks for that. The period you've quoted is crazy, but completely believable. Let's put things in perspective; here's a company that's second to last in the sales charts, has a high price tag product that has lots of buyers but they're unable to meet demand in anything resembling a satisfactory manner.

Only those with monk-like patience will wait for close to 6 months. Skoda should be doing everything in their power to win customers over, not drive them away.
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Old 29th March 2014, 14:13   #884
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re: Review: Skoda Octavia (3rd-gen)

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Originally Posted by iliketurtles View Post
Thanks for that. The period you've quoted is crazy, but completely believable. Let's put things in perspective; here's a company that's second to last in the sales charts, has a high price tag product that has lots of buyers but they're unable to meet demand in anything resembling a satisfactory manner.

Only those with monk-like patience will wait for close to 6 months. Skoda should be doing everything in their power to win customers over, not drive them away.
I can see only one reason for the delay in deliveries : Supply shortage of CKD kits from Europe. Owing to the success of the new Octavia in Europe, I am sure the Indian arm is not getting enough supply of kits. Skoda Indian bosses are as helpless as the Skoda dealers I suppose. In the overall scheme of things India is a very small market for Skoda.

THis page has some interesting stats on where Skoda is selling its cars.

http://www.volkswagenag.com/content/...SKODA_AaK.html

You can't blame them for neglecting India!

Last edited by Santoshbhat : 29th March 2014 at 14:17.
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Old 29th March 2014, 15:31   #885
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Santoshbhat View Post

I can see only one reason for the delay in deliveries : Supply shortage of CKD kits from Europe. Owing to the success of the new Octavia in Europe, I am sure the Indian arm is not getting enough supply of kits. Skoda Indian bosses are as helpless as the Skoda dealers I suppose. In the overall scheme of things India is a very small market for Skoda.

THis page has some interesting stats on where Skoda is selling its cars.

http://www.volkswagenag.com/content/...SKODA_AaK.html

You can't blame them for neglecting India!
+1. Had been to the Skoda dealer to collect the refund of my advance booking amount and had a chance to talk to the sales manager. When I asked him hypothetically had I not cancelled, when would I have received the car, his reply was: somewhere around October!! He said only 250 kits get allocated for India every month and the car is extremely overbooked for this supply! I feel relieved that I cancelled and booked the Jetta.
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