Skoda Auto India opened its first boutique showroom in Bandra, Mumbai. Skoda is planning at least 15 new style boutique showrooms across India that will make customers get closer to the brand. "We plan to have 15 boutique showrooms in tier 1 and tier 2 cities across India by the end of December 2010," said Thomas Kuehl, Board Member, Sales and Marketing, Skoda Auto India.

The boutique showrooms will also be an automobile education center for children, students and auto enthusiasts through interactive gatherings. The showrooms will also offer the Škoda Merchandise collection, a complete range of high quality and exclusive Škoda branded products.

So far boutique showrooms are exclusive to luxury carmakers in India. Now Skoda Auto will bring its unique showrooms in India that will give better sense of ownership to its customers. Currently there are 65 Skoda dealerships in India spread in 50 cities of the country. Skoda doesn’t have such showrooms anywhere else in the world, but plans to replicate it in other countries, depending on the experience here. The success of these boutique showrooms will be evaluated on the number of footfalls it can generate rather than sales of new cars.