Skoda Doubles Festive Season Sales, Thanks To The Kushaq SUV

Skoda Auto India has announced that it has doubled its year-on-year (YoY) sales in October 2021. Courtesy of an easing pandemic, the Kushaq compact SUV has racked up 15,000 bookings in just 4 months. Once the upcoming Slavia sedan and the facelifted Kodiaq SUV are launched, Skoda will have a lineup of five all-new models in India, possibly for the first time since its arrival in 2001. 

Currently, Skoda sells the Rapid, Octavia, Superb, and the Kushaq in India. Until the SUV’s launch earlier this year, the carmaker had solely relied on the ageing Rapid compact sedan for its volume sales. The Kushaq and the upcoming Slavia are the first all-new affordable cars from the carmaker, both aimed squarely at the Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh price bracket.   

The Kushaq and Slavia are built on a localised version of Skoda’s global MQB-A0 platform. You can get the Kushaq with a 115PS 1.0-litre TSI turbo petrol engine or a 150PS 1.5-litre TSI turbo petrol. A 6-speed manual gearbox is standard, and you get the option of a 6-speed torque converter with the smaller engine and a 7-speed DSG dual clutch automatic gearbox with the 1.5-litre TSI engine. 

In India, the Kushaq locks horns with the Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, MG Hector, and Renault Duster.

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Skoda plans to reveal the Slavia sedan in mid-November, and it will provide it with the same engine choices and features as the Kushaq. Its 1.0-litre version will rival the Honda City and Hyundai Verna, but the powerful 1.5-litre TSI has no current nor upcoming sedan rivals in India. We recently drove the Slavia prototype, and you can know more about first impressions here. 

The new Skodas are part of the carmaker’s ‘India 2.0’ strategy announced in 2019. If the pandemic doesn’t disrupt Skoda’s plans for India, it could help the carmaker gain a significant market share. There’s something in it for us as well, considering the Czech carmaker’s success might just result in more driver-focused models for India. Slavia vRS, anyone?