Skoda Auto India, which is in the Indian automobile market now since quite some time, is planning to expand its business in India in year 2012 with the launch of Skoda Rapid. This model was unveiled at the 2012 Auto Expo in New Delhi. Skoda Rapid has been made keeping in mind the heavy duty use of a compact sedan in the Indian families, where it is used to commute between home and work places and on weekends for excursions. It is more or less used like a pickup truck in the Indian Weddings which tend to be always big and fat in almost every manner possible. Skoda has also showed its interest in the planning of launching a new model almost every six months in as the Indian automobile market is expanding exponentially.
Skoda Rapid is coming in three variants, in which there are two petrol version, one with five-speed manual transmission, and another with automatic 6-speed, Tiptronic Manual Gear changing Transmission. The third is a diesel version which comes with a five-speed Manual Fully Synchronized Transmission, the same as the petrol variant, but with a different kind of fuel. Along with Rapid, Skoda has Fabia, a hatchback, Laura and Laura RS, the famous SUV Yeti and the luxurious sedan Superb to woo its customers and give a tray full of perfect options to choose from.
In 2002 Skoda Octavia received the “Best Entry Level Car of the year” by BBC and started a legacy which was carried ahead with awards received every year by the cars of Skoda. To be precise, Skoda Rapid has received four Automotive Awards, which are the most distinguished awards from the Indian Media. This proves that the claim made by Skoda some time back that Rapid, the recently launched model is getting a very positive feedback from the market.
The company is determined to raise their sales figure worldwide up to 1.5 million at least. Company is executing plans and making investments for its expansion of volume and make its presence more impressive in the International automobile market. In the year 2011 alone, company has seen a worldwide sales of 8,79,200 units, compared to 2012. This means, there has been a rise of 50 percent to 30,000 units in 2011, this is indeed an excellent benchmark figure for the company to advance itself toward more accomplishments in sales. Right now 60 percent of the manufactured cars are sold out in the European market and the rest 40 percent is sold in the developing countries. Now, Skoda has a different strategy and plan for this 60-40 ratio, where it targets to turn this upside down and make 60 percent of sales in the developing countries which are outside the European region of sales of Skoda by 2018. Anyone will admit that it’s a very ambitious and profitable thought of Skoda.
Skoda has recently appointed Mr. Sudhir Rao as the Managing Director of India operations in Skoda Auto India. He has a very good understanding of the Indian automobile industry through his years of experience as a senior-level executive in this field. Skoda believes to carry onto the successful path it has traveled across in the past 10 years.