Skoda Fabia sports and road versions on the cards

On the sidelines of inaugurating its boutique showroom in Mumbai, Skoda Auto India also hinted that a new line-up within the Fabia range which would include a sports variant as well as "rough-road" version, tentatively known as 'Scout' was on the cards.  There is also a lot of buzz that the sports version would be Skoda Fabia Sportline, will have newly-designed interiors and alloy wheels. The company sold 16,000 cars in the Indian market in 2009 and is targeting to cross the 20,000-mark in 2010, with Fabia accounting for a significant chunk of the overall pie.

"We will launch multiple variants of the Skoda Fabia to leverage on its popularity and consolidate our brand in the Indian market." Skoda's head (sales and marketing) Thomas Kuehl told reporters in Kolkata.

In a bid to reinforce its sizeable presence in the D-segment cars sold in the country, Skoda Auto India is also evaluating the possibility of launching an upgraded version of its Octavia model in the next few years. It has also been learnt that the refreshed model would be finetuned to make it more India-specific. It is believed that the Indian arm of the Czech automaker is considering building the car on a new platform from its existing Chakan facility near Pune in Maharashtra in the next quarters. However, at this juncture, the company has not revealed any details like specifications, pricing and versions.

Skoda India is also venturing into the sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment with the launch of its Yeti model in the second half of 2010, expected to be priced around Rs 13-17 lakh.  The Premium carmaker is also quite upbeat on its boutique showrooms to increase brand awareness and bring customers closer to the brand. Skoda has around 25 per cent market share in the mid-size segment of cars in India and is pinning its hopes on a stronger brand recall to add incremental market-share in the next 3-5 years.