Ford has decided to take an exit from manufacturing its cars in India and will only sell CBU products in future. On hearing this news, some users on Twitter questioned Skoda Auto whether it is also contemplating leaving India.
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On seeing this, Zac Hollis, Skoda Indias Director of Sales, Service and Marketing replied that if Skoda was in a plan to make its exit from India, it wouldnt have invested Rs 8,000 crores in India over the past three years. He further clarified that Skoda has long term plans in India and is it's even working on a range of vehicles that will be launched in the upcoming years.
It is already leading the current India 2.0 strategy revealed at the 2020 Auto Expo. To make the brand more accessible to its existing customers and the new ones, Skoda is planning to inaugurate more dealerships across the country. The target is to raise their geographical presence within 125 more cities and open up new stores in at least 50 more cities.
To keep its customers happy, Skoda has been trying to deliver as per the customer's expectations. An example of this is Skoda India's move to update Kushaqs top-end variants with six airbags and a tyre pressure monitoring system. This was done based on customer feedback.
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In fact, based on the MQB-A0-IN platform, the Kushaq is a vehicle that has been tailor-made for India. Such is the buzz for this compact SUV that the carmaker was able to bag 10,000 bookings for the compact SUV within three months of launch. Also, with the commencement of the deliveries of the 1.5-litre variant, one is bound to see more Kushaqs plying on the streets.
The automaker giant has tried hard to price its latest car competitively. The entry-level variant of the Kushaq starts at Rs 10.49 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi) while the top-of-the-line model costs Rs 17.59 lakh (ex-showroom). However, with the recent set of updates, the top-spec model will get dearer by Rs 40,000.
Also, the numerous complaints of EPC error and faulty fuel pump has even led to the carmaker replacing the fuel pumps of all the vehicles delivered so far with a 'more robust' unit. Furthermore, the carmaker is expected to come up with a replacement for the Skoda Rapid next year. The new sedan will be positioned below the Octavia and go on to rival the likes of Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Honda City and Hyundai Verna.
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