Skoda hikes car prices

Czech car maker Skoda has announced a price increase of one to 1.8 per cent across its model range due to increasing input costs and unpredictable rupee and dollar exchange rates, starting from early August 2012. This is the second price revision in about four months. The company had increased prices of all its cars by 2 to 5 per cent earlier.

The Fabia will now cost Rs 4,510 more for the base Active petrol version and will go up to Rs 8.28 lakh for the Fabia Scout diesel, on an average (ex-showroom price). The Rapid, Laura Yeti and Superb will now be dearer by Rs 6,978, Rs 13,043, Rs 14,066 and Rs 18,204 respectively, for the base version. Despite its first hike in ex-showroom prices, the company still registered an 89 per cent growth in June 2012 over the same period last year.

According to Skoda’s 2018 growth strategy, it aims to increase its global sales to 1.5 million units per year. The company also introduced new base versions of the Superb and Laura, considering the hike in petrol prices for customers looking for stripped-down variants of premium sedans which is now the IT thing.

The existing models are manufactured at Skoda’s Shendra plant in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. Since its inception in December 2001, the company has rolled out over 1.54 lakh units.