Skoda to unveil Fabia Sportline, Combi and Roomster

Skoda will unveil new variants of its flagship hatchback Fabia in India. The Skoda Fabia is a premium hatchback in India. It has not been selling well for to reasons: 1 ) the car is underpowered and 2) India doesn’t really get the concept of premium hatchback cars yet.

Photo: Skoda Roomster for India soon

The three new models to be launched will be the Skoda Fabia Sportline, the Fania Combi Estate and the tallboy MPV Roomster.

The Skoda Fabia Sportline will push the envelope when it comes to premium hatchback cars – the current Fania has a 1.6 liter engine, the Sportline will feature a 1800 cc powerplant. The Sportline will also have better interiors and alloy wheels.

The Skoda Roomster – or do we call it the Skoda Fabia Roomster? – is quite a confused, and confusing, vehicle. It shares components with the Fabia as well as the Octavia. The front-end looks exact like the Fabia, but to the sides and rear, its a different story as you can see from the photos here.

Photo: Skoda Fabia Combi

The Skoda Fabia Combi looks like a slightly stretched version of the normal Fabia. With the extra length, it looks even more similar to the Octavia.

Somehow, I don’t think Skoda has got the idea in the Indian market yet. For some reason, their smaller cars just cannot replicate the success of the Octavia in India. Premium hatchbacks are not the thing that Indians go for, and coming out with even more wackier versions is not going to work, is market share is what Skoda India wants. On the other other hand, if their real objecitve is to sprinkle our roads with offbeat cars and please the eyes of those who have a taste for them (that includes me too), they are welcome.

If market share is what they want, what they need is a cheap, fuel efficient Fabia that can match the Swift in price. More exotic versions are not going to help.

Skoda has not announced any date for the launch of the Fabia Sportline, Fabia Combi or the Roomster in India yet. My guess is, wait till the end of the year. Given what the market is like, sense should prevail at Skoda pretty soon.

Plans are on to launch its Yeti model by the beginning of 2010. The company is expected to attach a price tag of Rs 10 lakh in India.

Skoda, which will expand its dealership network to 60 in Indian towns and cities this calendar. The premium car manufacturer had made headline recently when sales increased in the domestic market when over all auto sales declined owing to the financial troubles financial meltdown. Skoda sales had zoomed 22 per cent to 11,309 cars in the April-December period, said reports.

The car manufacturer has sold over 2 million Octavia modes worldwide so far. The new range, including the Skoda Octavia RS, a sports car model, and a leisure-time model known as the Scout. Meanwhile, the Octavia, whch has become Skoda’s best-seller model, is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. It is he fiftieth year of the production of the first car launched under this brand name.

Meanwhile, the modern day Octavia has been spruced up with a brand new 1.4 TSI/90 kW engine. Turbocharged 1.4 and 1.8 litre petrol engines can be combined with a seven-speed twin-clutch automatic DSG transmission, said the company. The new version comes with bolder headlamps, a more robust radiator grille and a one-piece bumper. The innovation of the rear part of the vehicle is mainly about new tail lamp covers and a dynamic bumper with integrated cat eyes, it added.