Reference Auto

At a time when all car makers (including Honda) are making a beeline to grab a bite of the lucrative small or compact hatchback market in India, Czech car-maker Skoda has rolled out mid-sized sedan, the Rapid, for a price range of Rs 6.75 lakh-Rs 9.2 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) in spite of its shoddy marketing strategy.

The car will come in both petrol and diesel variants and be propelled by a 1.6 litre engine. It is based on the Volkswagen or VW Vento’s platform. VW is apparently a group company of Skoda.

While the petrol variant of the Rapid will carry a price tag of between Rs 6.75 lakh and Rs 8.99 lakh, the diesel version will come for Rs 7.95 lakh-Rs 9.19 lakh.

The new Rapid will come in both 5-speed manual and a 6-speed automatic transmission.

Despite a rapid slowdown in the country’s auto sales and with auto companies desiring to just about stay afloat in the current scenario, Skoda’s bullishness has hit a peak.

Instead, Skoda is of the view that the Rapid will become its star performer whose sales will actually surpass the Fabia, which sells about 1,500 units in a month.

“India is an extremely important market for Skoda. There was a clear cut gap between our compact car Fabia and the sedan Laura. To fill the void, we have rolled out the Rapid in the C segment,” Skoda Auto India marketing head Tarun Jha averred.

Speaking about its sales plan, Skoda Auto India associate director (sales and after sales) Ashutosh Dixit added, “We are targeting to sell over 2,000 cars (Rapids) a month. Despite a slump in the auto market, we think the C segment’s sales could reach above 5 per cent this year.”

Skoda expects its diesel cars to sell substantially higher, owing to the slew of petrol price hikes in the country and a natural preference for diesel cars in India.

The company had earlier said that it may start exporting cars manufactured in India to global markets, starting with its new Rapid.

Jha added, “This car has been specifically designed for India but the launch is a global one. Later, the Rapid may be introduced in different markets around the globe.”

“As of now, we have 82 dealerships and it will be ramped up to about 100 by the end of this year. Next year, we will add another 20 outlets,” Jha said.

By introducing the Rapid in the C-segment, Skoda will see an intense slugfest among cars, which include the Honda City, the Hyundai Verna and the Toyota Etios, among others, despite the sales volume of the segment not being too high.

Skoda couldn’t sell a car in the lower category (the Fabia) well. The car has notched figures (sales of around 1,500 cars a month), which cannot even be considered decent.

And, the Skoda Yeti, which was launched a year ago, has almost gone into oblivion.

Consider this. The Skoda Yeti’s sales are around 150 units a month, where as for the Skoda Laura, it is 650 and the Skoda Superb nearly sells 350 units.

So, with this kind of a poor marketing plan (and low sales volume), will Skoda’s Rapid sell well?