Skoda will launch new bodystyles on its India specific platform MQB-A0-IN in 2024 to achieve sales of 1 lakh by 2025. The bodystyles are likely to include a sub-four meter SUV, one of the fastest growing segments.

Launching its mid-size sedan Slavia at a price starting from Rs 10.69 lakh, lower than the segment leader City that starts selling at Rs 11.23 lakh, Zac Hollis, brand director, Skoda Auto India said, “We are still considering bodystyles. Whatever makes a good business case will be launched.”

The company launched the Slavia with the 1litre turbocharged TSI engine with a price range of Rs 10.69 lakh to Rs 15.39 lakh.

Slavia had a 1.5 litre engine as well which has a price range of Rs 16.19 lakh for the manual transmission and Rs 17.79 lakh for the DSG (direct shift gear-box) unit.

Skoda plans to treble its sales in 2022. It sold 23,858 units in 2021 with 60 per cent of its sales coming from mid-size SUV Kushaq.

Hollis said he expects the newly launched Slavia and Kushaq to make up 90 per cent of the sales in 2022.

“To go from 15000 cars a year to 20000 cars, we needed to professionalise the business. We expanded our sales network from 65 dealers to 153 at present and will close the year at 180 in 2022,” Hollis said.

“We chose our dealers carefully and cleared out 20 per cent of our partners for unethical deals. We needed financially strong investors. And to give them good business, we launched a product offensive with 95 per cent localisation based on our made-for-India platform.”

He said the cost of ownership of Skoda’s cars was now down by 21 per cent.