Skoda will launch a small car in the Indian market in 2012

The Czech car-maker Skoda is planning to soon launch its small car in the Indian market. Skoda, on Tuesday, announced that it will introduce this small car in the Indian market in early 2012. The new small car will be priced at Rs 3-5 lakh. The company is also planning to launch Yeti, the sports utility vehicle and also a stripped- down version of Fabia in India by the end of this year. The SUV of the company was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show last year and was introduced in the European market with both versions of petrol and diesel. Apart from these launches, Skoda will also launch a sedan in the year 2011 with a price tag of Rs 6-10 lakh. Thomas Kuehl, SkodaAuto India Board Member and Director (Sales and Marketing), commented that they had announced to launch one new model every year. As part of this strategy, the company will enter the volume segment and will launch a small car in early 2012.

According to the sources, the new small car of Skoda will be launched in both petrol and diesel versions.  When Kuehl was questioned about the possible price range of the vehicle, he commented that it will be below the Fabia as their aim is to price it in the Rs 3-5 lakh category. It is worth mentioning here that small car segment in India is growing at a fast speed and that is why many global car majors have launched a series of new models in the price range of Rs 3-5 lakh in the recent months. Such new models include Ford Figo, Chevrolet Beat and Volkswagen Polo.

Kuehl also said that they have not decided anything about production of the new small car. They are open to sharing technologies as well as the plant of their parent company Volkswagen. Volkswagen has made an investment of 580 million euro for setting up a manufacturing facility in Chakan. This facility will have the capacity of producing 1.1 lakh units per annum. As far as the exporting of the new model is concerned, Kuehl said that nothing has yet been decided for that. Kuehl has also commented that the company is also planning to launch a refurbished Fabia in both petrol and diesel options during the last quarter of this year. It will be more competitive than the existing one. At present, the diesel variant of  Fabia is available at Rs 6-7.84 lakh.