Skoda Cars

Czechoslovakian carmaker Skoda is a subsidiary of the Volkswagen group. Skoda came to India in 2001 and set up Skoda Auto India Pvt Ltd. A manufacturing facility was established near Aurangabad in Maharashtra with an annual capacity to manufacture 40,000 vehicles. The Skoda Octavia was the first domestically built car in 2002. It was an instant success as the handling, build quality, mileage and price were all excellent. The Indian premium sedan segment hadn’t seen such a car before and was taken to European built cars that didn’t cost a lot. Skoda made its name quick but began to lose it soon enough with poor quality after sales and service, so much so that its reputation as a carmaker with highly expensive running and maintenance costs overshadowed the cars itself. Skoda has worked towards addressing this issue and is getting better at the sales and service front with transparent practices and better parts availability than before. The Aurangabad facility is also shared by Audi to assemble its cars sold in India as CKDs. Skoda’s largest selling model as of now is the Rapid, a badge engineered Vento that is manufactured alongside the Vento at Volkswagen’s plant in Chakan. The Fabia was manufactured here too until it was discontinued due to poor sales and its high assembly costs. Skoda’s flagship car, the Superb is a popular car for the discerning elite as the Superb offered excellent bang for your buck. A new generation Superb will come too and promises to better the outgoing car on all grounds.