As the Rapid sedan broke its cover in India recently, Skoda Auto India, a subsidiary of Skoda Auto, seems to carve a distinct identity in the highly acclaimed C-segment. The company believes that the latest introduction would emerge out to be its best selling car in India, in the coming time.
With Skoda Rapid, the carmaker forays into the C-segment category, spreading its wings in the highly potential Indian market, yet again.
Skoda Auto India is expecting the new sedan Rapid to account for 50 per cent of total volume sales for Skoda in India by next year. In this view, it plans to sell 2,000 units of Rapid every month.
Thomas Kuehl, Director Sales Marketing, Skoda Auto India added, “We intend to strengthen our presence in the highly competitive C-segment in the country with this launch. Our plans for the Rapid in India are fairly ambitious, given that we expect it to become the bestselling car in our model line-up in India, in the near future.”
Even as the automobile sector is dancing on the tunes of menaces like severe depression in demand and inconsistent fuel prices, Skoda Auto India claimed to have registered a growth of 50 per cent in the first ten months that is from January to October.
As against the 20,400 units figure of Skoda last year, the company has already touched the 24,000 units mark in ten months and expects the year to culminate with 30,000 units.
Skoda Auto India is responsible for offering best-in-class products including Skoda Superb, Skoda Laura, Skoda Fabia, Skoda Yeti and the recently launched Skoda Rapid. Skoda India has a network of 90 dealers which would possibly become 100 by year end.
Skoda Auto India that mulls upon bringing in the Fabia Scout, along with new variants in 2012, has also commenced online booking for the ‘Rapid’ model.
Kuehl added, “With the launch of ‘Rapid’ they also have started online bookings for the car. We have 18 cars that were booked online and are looking further to up this segment. Even though the e-commerce business in India is still at nascent stage, the company expects the mode to strengthen in coming years.” He stated that the step aims to bring about unambiguity in the business. With online booking a person can make use of a 24X7 booking facility, according to the convenience of the customer.
Thus, Skoda India seems to direct each and every effort towards making Rapid a nationwide success without much time being taken.
