Skoda plans four launches in 2009 including Fabia Combi and Sports

Czech major Skoda Auto will unveil its Fabia Sports and Fabia Combi along with new versions of the Laura and Superb next year in India.

Skoda Fabia COmbi photo

The four new upcoming models will join the Skoda lineup in India which currenty include the premium hatchback Fabia, and the sedans Octavia, Laura and Superb in the country. These cars are now available in Skoda dealerships and have been priced in the range of Rs 4.8 lakh to Rs 24 lakh.

Skoda India’s plans to launch four models next year have come about in tune with its expectations to sell as many as 20,000 units this year as against the 13,000 cars sold in 2007. The first six months of the 2008 calendar has seen as many as 9,556 Skoda car units being sold.

Upcoming 2009: Skoda Fabia Combi

While the proposed Fabia Sports model will carry a tag of Rs 10 lakh, the Fabia Combi is expected to be built on parent company Volkswagen’s B6 platform. We expect the price of the Combi models too to be around that same level.

Skoda had launched its compact car, the Fabia, in India and has priced it in the range of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7.68 lakh. The Fabia is available in three engine variants — 1.2 and 1.4 litre petrol and 1.4 litre diesel. Such pricing makes it a premkum hatchback car. The Fabia Combi model is much more spacious than the already spacious Fabia – it is 7 mm longer and 46 mm taller. Boot space is now at 480 liters, 54 more than the luggage capacity of the Fabia.

The specifications of the Fabia Sports is unknown as of now. While we can surely expect the Sports variant to have more goodies and better looks, whether there would be an increase in the performance characteristics, we have no idea as of now.

Meanwhile, following a credit crunch owing to the tightening of lending norms by financial entities, the car maker has also kick started a financing subsidiary in the country. Company officials have said that as 80 per cent of Skoda’s total sales are financed, the company has gone for its own arm in the segmet and has christened it Skoda Finance . The new arm is expected to go on stream by the last quarter of 2008.