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-   -   Skoda Kushaq Review (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/official-new-car-reviews/238363-skoda-kushaq-review-24.html)

Finally an almost perfect car under 20Lakhs(OTR BLR) - TC AT, excellent ride+handling combo, safety, build quality, ergonomics etc, was tired of successive cars coming with autorickshaw-like ride quality(Seltos,Creta,Harrier) and poor safety. Hope the no. of airbags issue will be sorted out soon, however I don't think its a major deal-breaker given the safety record of VW/Skoda, unless this car scores lower than 4 in NCAP.
Also, this is a good opportunity for Taigun to get its variant-feature mix right and make it a key differentiator.

Excellent review for the Kushaq. Rated 5 stars but disappointed by Skoda on its pricing.

The last time Skoda India priced its vehicle right was by launching the Rapid rider variant. It is indeed a great product at an affordable price tag. I don't think that Skoda should charge a premium for its brand until they sort out their aftersales support.
There are many threads active that clearly state the horror stories of owning a Skoda vehicle. Kushaq was meant to be a game-changer for Skoda but, its pricing will take away many prospective customers.

Now Harrier/ Seltos seemed to be much VFM as compared to Kushaq.

It feels like Skoda is trying to move away from their DNA. I think the price range is acceptable, and they still have some cushion to push the price up north. Where skoda messed up is on the variants and the features they provide. In this segment the mass movers are the mid-trims, or in this case the Ambition variant, and it doesnt offer a lot compared to Creta/Seltos.
Having the base variant below 10L would provide a major advantage from OTD point of view for the customers, specially in states like Karnataka, However skoda is always a premium brand and should position themselves so. But Kushaq does not have any premium identity compared to it's Korean twins. Been skoda, I was expecting lumbar support and power driver/passenger seat, 6 airbags on top end AT, soft touch materials on the upper section of the cabin, acoustic glass on the highest trim. Even if it costed a bit more Skoda should be fine, and at least one of these features should have trickled down to the ambition variant, which would likely be the top selling model. Doing that, it could stand apart from the competition.

Suddenly, Seltos, Creta, Sonet and Honda City Gen 4 and 5 seems to be such a nice proposition after seeing the bizarre pricing of the Ku”shock”. I have been contemplating a powerful and considerably safe vehicle for my primary use and was awaiting Kushak’s pricing , although somewhere in my mind I knew they would mess this up.

It may drive better on a track and have better 0-100 figures but does that effect the requirements of an average Indian, that too with the fuel prices going north each day?

If Skoda had to get closer anywhere near the sales figures of its rivals, isn’t market research paramount to know what people like? If a brand is already a market dud and ain’t selling, why not try a value proposition and generate confidence in the buyers to look at their product? Magnite and Triber and Skoda’s very own Rider are few examples where customers have taken the risk and welcomed the product on offer.

Dear Skoda, people also are simply clever these days with clear understanding of rival products and open minded acceptance towards various body types and brands, provided they see value in the offering.

The free perks of dicey after sales and sure shot lower resale value is a given with the German brands, however, good pricing is a big factor to make the customers to consider a proposal and take the call.

Their must be a joyous scenario , Samosas, Coke and pizzas for the staff today at various dealerships of Hyundai/ Kia today for obvious reasons.

As for me, thank you Skoda, you just saved my money, it stays in the bank only and earns interest whereas my interest towards you finally rests in peace.

while going through the feature list it looked to me that 10.49 for Active is a decent price where you get 6 speakers with a music system, multi function steering wheel, no safety feature missed leaving Hill hold in base model and other not to be missed good features as compared to creat bare bone 9.99L base, still skoda could have done to price the other variants neck-n-neck with creta, with this pricing skoda will not be able to make any dent in Venue/Sonet segmnet but if priced neck-n-neck could have easily made a big dent on Creta/Seltos segment.

Spot on. I will bear rattles in my car rather than pay 2 million and end up with an unreliable, low safety score and less feature car. I still can't believe the fact that people are fine with a 2 million rupee car getting 4 stars on crash rating but will not opt for Indian cars like TATA and M&M that have surpassed all the other cars in terms of safety standards in the segments they operate in.

As expected, Skoda ends up maintaining a premium in the pricing for most of this range. For most of us woke car buyers and drivers, Skoda may not be a premium brand with many known issues with ASS. However, for the average Joe (who doesn't even know of NCAP test or build quality), it still retains it's premium & aspirational value. Most of the mass market segment sales comes from such people only. I was myself unaware of this premium and looked at Skoda as a problematic brand but have since met enough people who really look at it as a premium brand.

No brand will destroy that premium, be it toothpaste or a car. It would be suicidal. Skoda is able to sell cars priced Rs. 30 Lacs well - something which the market leaders have not been able to do, so it was expected that it will keep that premium-ness intact with the pricing. I personally expected Kushaq to be priced from Rs. 11 lacs to a few grands above Selots/Creta. Its mostly like that.

The base version is priced well, in fact a bit aggressively. If compared to Creta/Seltos base variant, it has more safety features and creature comforts, so the premium of Rs. 50k is perfectly justified. Perhaps Skoda missed a trick here by not offering an even more bare boned version like competition and price it at Rs. 9.99 lac levels. Its from the base variant upwards that the prices become a bit stiff. In the next version Style, one gets the following additional features-

1. Alloy wheels
2. LED headlamps
3. Fog lamps & Ambient Lighting
4. Rear wiper & defogger
5. Rear window child locking
6. Rear foldable seats
7. Drive seat height adjustment
8. Rear Armrest
9. Steering wheel leather
10. 10" touchscreen
11. My Skoda
12. Auto climate control
13. Rear AC vents
14. One touch and anti pinch windows
15. Dead pedal
16. 4 dial MID
17. Cruise control
18. Rear Parking Cameras
19. Cooling glovebox
20. Shark fin antenna
21. Rear Parcel Shelf
22. Sunglass holder
23. Few other cosmetic embellishments

But is all of it worth a price increase worth Rs. 2.4 lacs. Definitely no! A rise of Rs. 1.25-1.5 lacs, yes! This is clearly overpriced by 1 lac (presumably for brand premium). Similarly, the difference between auto and manual is around 1.5 lacs while Seltos and Creta operate at 1 lac kind of difference. So all higher variants are definitely overpriced. Absence of 6 airbags on the top end variant is a big, big, big miss and hopefully will be corrected soon.

I had junked the idea of buying a Seltos HTK+ Diesel Auto priced at Rs. 13.95 lacs after the GNCAP ratings and was looking at 1.0 AT Style. I was expecting it to be priced at Rs. 13-13.5 lacs. Its priced higher, but I think I would still go for it. For Rs. 24k more I will get a host of things. Primary being -

1. Better body build
2. Better handling and dynamics
3. Host of safety features like ESC, Hill Assist, Multi Collision Brake
4. Paddle shifters
5. Headrest in back seat
6. ISOFIX
7. 60:40 split seats

Some bells and whistles like-

1. LED headlamps
2. Rear Armrest
3. 10" touchscreen
4. Auto climate control
5. Cooling glovebox

The major con for me would be the lack of space in the rear seat but I think mostly I would still go that way. Seeing the (expected) criticism of pricing here, not sure how many will buy this :) Hopefully, enough to keep Skoda afloat in India. I will be watching the numbers closely.

Pricing is a very subjective thing. Some one may think "I wont buy the cars without XYZ features at this price point". The other guy may think "I won't buy a car with a weak body structure at this price point". Its completely subjective. There is no one size fits all. Let us see how many are there here for this car which is evidently positioned for the safety conscious and driving enthusiasts.

I am not sure if it is the demand or the manufacturer's unwillingness to produce them in large numbers. I guess the later.
GTO, in first post after the review, you had predicted a premium pricing but a sale of around 5,000 units a month. Do you hold onto that assessment with the final price announcement?

Probably a hired social media agency distributing readymade texts to the paid tweeters. Almost all of them are talking in a similar language as if a single person wrote all of them.

So, Skoda/VW are not mass market brands and should be priced at a premium even with lacking in space, features, safety.Huh!
This is what Honda fanboys (including myself) used to say few years back and the rest, as they say, is history. Honda India is probably breathing their last while Koreans are ruling the roost and have completely taken over the C/C+ segments. VW/Skoda is already on ventilator, I wonder what happens to them in a few years.

Unfortunately, I seem to have a habit of picking up unsuccessful cars and brands in India (Honda Jazz and VW vento), and both the brands I own will probably soon be extinct in India. May be excuse for a new car rl:

So Skoda is trying to compete in 2 segments with a single car. The 10L base price and the 1 litre variants are pitted against the Sonnet/Venue/Ecosport/Brezza customer. The Skoda being slightly larger and probably a bit better than these if you can live without the creature comforts of the base variant. Then there is the 1.5 litre variant pitted against the Cretas/Seltos buyers. Again, it should be more than competent against these in all departments.

I must say it has been an excellent move by Skoda, trying to kill 2 birds with a single stone. Ofcourse I am a Ford/Toyota/Maruti kind of a buyer who would rather spend money on peace of mind over 'German Engineering', but I sincerely hope that Skoda succeeds in atleast scratching, if not denting the vice like hold that the Korean twins have on this segment.

Auto Rickshaw like ride quality - of Creta/Seltos/Harrier? I have extensively driven Seltos, Creta, Octavia and Fabia. I don't think there's anything Auto-Rickshaw like in Creta/Seltos. The interior fit and finish is fantastic !

I simply fail to understand the reason why people are justifying 2 airbags in a 20L+ on road car.. Some of these posts sound like the Twitter handles going ga-ga over Kushaq today

You said it yourself, also not to forget the recent quality issues in Hyundai/Kia group mechanicals. There is a long thread about issues on Hyundai cars on this very forum and some of them (brake failure in previous gen Creta) are not small niggles.

EDIT: VAG group cars are premium, safer and better to drive than most of their rivals and that's the reason they command a premium. In fact, their 40 lac rupee cars (Superb and Allspace) are bargains as they give cars 2 segments above a run for their money.

No offence to owners, but my only point was that almost every new car - Creta/Seltos/Harrier has a stiff suspension set-up which is extremely difficult to live with in a city like Blr, where roads are disappearing fast. Unfortunately, the European finesse of perfect ride+handling combo is an art which the Koreans are yet to master.

Skoda have done their management well and they will get the numbers they expect. Whatever features missing will be covered with its bit more premium sister model from VW. There are many who want to stand out and not appear to follow the crowd. They will buy this over the thousands of Creta or Seltos everywhere. Even when you get relatively less for the price but its accepted when buying european cars.

Imho all of the cars these days overpriced. I blame it mostly on taxes but Koreans have done their part by increasing prices because of their bumper sales. Skoda is just following their own strategy and doing what they do.

Absolutely. In fact the biggest evidence is the fact that they all are using the accented S when writing Skoda - no regular Indian customer would do that. Clear sign that these are copy paste tweets.

Coming to the car, while I agree it is slightly overpriced, but am not really up in arms against the pricing like many people here. This was probably expected since Skoda was targeting around 2500 per month only. Is it absolute value for money? Probably not, but then what is? :)

This car will probably end up like the Polo in the long run - will do decent numbers and will have a niche fan following.