Date:12/08/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/08/12/stories/2005081202040200.htm

Back Skoda to launch Octavia Combi next month

Our Bureau

Mr Imran Hassen, Managing Director, Skoda Auto India, and Mr Sven-Holger Behnke, General Manager (Sales and Marketing), at a press conference in Chennai on Thursday. — Bijoy Ghosh

Chennai , Aug. 11

SKODA Auto India Pvt Ltd plans to launch the Octavia Combi, the station wagon model of the Octavia sedan, next month. This will be followed by the diesel version of the Superb, a luxury car.

Mr Imran Hassen, Managing Director, Skoda Auto India, told a press conference here today that the company seeks to launch the Fabia in 2006.

He did not provide details of the Octavia Combi.

According to information available on the Internet and on Skoda's global Web site, the Octavia Combi comes with both petrol and diesel engine options. The Combi has a boot capacity of 580 litres, against 560 litres of the Octavia sedan. The Combi's boot capacity will go up to 1,620 litres once the rear seats are folded.

It is learnt that the Combi is likely to be priced in the Rs 13-16 lakh bracket.

Mr Hassen said that the company would double its capacity to 30,000 units by November 2005. In 2005, the company hoped to sell about 13,000 cars against the 7,200 it sold last year.

The Fabia is likely to be launched by 2006 end. Though Skoda globally has the Fabia in three versions — hatchback, sedan and combi — it is the sedan that is expected to be launched in India, at a price of about Rs 8 lakh. Mr Hassen, who was here to inaugurate the second dealer for Skoda in Chennai, said the launch of the Fabia would mark the fourth phase of the company's operations in the country.

He said that the company would bring in a new product on a new platform with improved technology next year. Automobile industry sources said that this could be the new Octavia that had been launched in Europe.

The capacity expansion at Skoda Auto India's Aurangabad plant would help make it the manufacturing hub for South Asian countries. The company hoped to despatch its first consignment to Bangladesh in September to commence sales in October.

Skoda Auto India now sells about 70 cars a month in Chennai, according to Mr Hassen, and with the appointment of a second dealer, the company expects sales to pick up.

According to industry sources, Skoda follows the policy adopted by its parent Volkswagen in deciding the number of dealers in a city. Volkswagen, according to them, appoints another dealer when its sales in a particular market reach 8 per cent of the total sales.