Skoda says it will touch 60,000 unit sales this year
Skoda Auto India sold 28,899 cars in the first six months of 2022 and is on track to achieve more than 60,000 unit sales by the end of the year, a top company official told FE.
The Czech carmaker sold 6,023 cars in June 2022, its highest ever sales in a month. The previous peak was 5,608 units in March 2022.“We have overtaken the 2021 annual sales in just six months of 2022,” Zac Hollis, brand director, Skoda Auto India, told FE. “We sold 28,899 units in H1CY22, higher than 23,858 annual sales in CY21. We are on track to register 2022 as the biggest year for sales in India and should be able to cross 60,000 unit sales. ”In the process, India has also become among the top-10 markets for Skoda Auto.
Hollis attributed these record sales to “new models in the right segments” the carmaker has introduced as part of the INDIA 2.0 project (announced in 2018, Skoda’s parent company Volkswagen Group is investing 1 billion euros between 2019 and 2021 to enhance presence in India, and this project is led by Skoda Auto).
Last year, Skoda had launched the Kushaq midsize SUV and earlier this year the Slavia midsize sedan. Hollis added that both these products entered the market in an extremely challenging backdrop (pandemic, lockdowns and semiconductor shortage) and yet are doing well.
The carmaker is also expanding its physical presence. Till last month, it has about 205 customer touchpoints, up from 175 in December 2021. “We have now reset our projections to 250 customer touchpoints for 2022, over the previously set 225 touchpoints,” Hollis added.
Skoda’s oldest nameplate, and one of India’s longest-running cars in continuous production, the Octavia, crossed the 100,000-unit sales mark recently. “With sedans like the Octavia and the Superb leading their segment, the Kodiaq sold out for the year, and the Slavia and the Kushaq clocking in healthy numbers, we are set to make 2022 as the biggest year for sales in India,” he said.