Skoda to make small car for India

Get set for another cheap car. This time it is the Czech major Skoda who is lining up a cheap car aimed at the masses in the country.

With India already riding an exciting phase as far the small car market is concerned, it was only natural that successful brands such as Skoda too would make a foray. Statistics say that the small car segment in India accounts for nearly two-third of the total passenger car sales.

To be priced between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh range, Skoda’s small car will be launched in India before being offered globally. This info hints at the European car maker’s plans to  make the small car with the India masses in mind. The car is to be rolled out in the next two years’ time.

Apart from the cheap small car, Skoda will also look at adding four more models to its product portfolio. Skoda is also planning to introduce a small car in India to boost its car sales in the country. It has already launched its hatchback model, Skoda Fabia, in the small car segment. It also has Skoda Octavia and Skoda Laura, Skoda Superb under its Indian product umbrella.

The car maker, significantly, is in the process of expanding its product portfolio and the Indian car mart is likely to see new segments such as multi-purpose vehicles (MPV) and the sports utility vehicles (SUV) being tapped by the company. The buzz is that it plans to introduce its Roomster multi-utility vehicle by the end 2008 while Fabia Combi, a longer version of the hatchback, and a new Superb sedan built on parent company Volkswagen’s B6 platform will be launched by mid 2009. In 2010, the company will launch the Yeti sport utility vehicle.

Aiming high, the company will look at selling at least 20,000 cars this calendar year. The first six months have already seen as many as 9556 cars being picked by customers from the various dealerships.

Though it had been averse to a small car plan earlier, Skoda is believed to have decided to go for a car on a cheaper small car platform in a bid to benefit from the lower excise duty regime As of now the Fabia is the smallest offering from the Skoda line up.