Skoda is planning to roll out its small car by 2011 which is quite ahead of its original schedule. The official statement from Skoda came hours after the launch of Nano where Skoda Auto India operations head and board member (sales & marketing) Thomas Kuehl stated that the company has decided to advance the launch of its small car in India.

"The VW board has decided to step on the gas to roll out two small cars - one from the VW stable and another from Skoda - over the next 24-30 months. The technology for the cars have been finalised and now product development is underway," Kuehl said. "To be competitive in the mass market, we have to work out a high localisation component for the small car without compromising on quality. That process is already underway," he added.

The new small car will be priced below Rs. 4 lakh and will be positioned under Fabia. The company is said to have developing a vendor base near its Aurangabad unit so that most of its components are sourced locally. Skoda has Superb, Laura, Octavia and Fabia in its product portfolio and the parts for all these models are currently imported from Europe. This increases the cost of ownership considerably.