Czech carmaker Skoda has revealed that it is planning to bring the Fabia hatchback back to India as a premium offering.
The Fabia saw poor sales in its previous stint in India. Skoda tried to push the car's sales by announcing multiple price cuts, but was not successful. The company was losing a sizeable amount of money on every unit of the Fabia sold and finally, Skoda had to pull the car out of the market.
Last year, Skoda reworked its strategy for India and has repositioned itself from being a mass market player to a value-luxury brand. This has resulted in lower sales, but higher profits for the company. The company claims to be benefitting from sharing manufacturing infrastructure with sister companies, Volkswagen and Audi. It has also delinked its pricing mechanism from that of Volkswagen. Skoda also claims to have started focusing on customer satisfaction.
The Premium hatchback segment in India is growing. Hyundai's Elite i20 has been successful and sells at more than 9,000 units a month on a regular basis. With Maruti Suzuki planning to launch the YRA and Honda about to re-introduce the Jazz, Skoda will not want to be left behind.
Source: Money Control