Earlier this year it was reported that Skoda would replacing the 10 inch touch-screen with an 8 inch touchscreen in select variants of the Slavia and Kushaq. However, Skoda India has now decided that the only the 8 inch touchscreen will be offered on all variants apart from the base variant. Even the Kushaq Monte Carlo which was earlier supposed to come with the 10 inch head unit too will get the smaller unit.
First of all, contrary to all rumours - the new head unit on the Slavia and Kushaq is not an aftermarket unit that was found on the last few units of the now discontinued Rapid. Instead this new unit is the same one found on more expensive Skoda models such as the Superb and Rapid.
Also read: VW Virtus Comfortline Vs Skoda Slavia Active - Battle of the Siblings
Why the new unit?
With the advent of COVID, global supply chains have been facing a lot of stress. This along with an increase in demand for personal vehicles (also COVID induced) has caused waiting periods for vehicles to reach record levels never seen before.
Thus in order to counter the waiting periods, OEMs are resorting to either feature deletions or rearrangements. Skoda is no different in this regard as they too have been struggling on the deliveries front. And thus they have introduced the new head unit.
How different is it vs the old unit
In terms of the design, the new unit is placed in the same housing used for the previous 10 inch unit. However it gets a smaller screen along with physical knobs for adjusting the volume or frequency of the radio. Also, there are touch-pad like shortcut buttons on either side of the screen.
The newer unit though cannot support wireless phone mirroring capabilities. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto will have to be accessed with the help of a wired connection. Also, the addition of the new unit comes with the deletion of subwoofer from the top-end variants of the Slavia and Kushaq.
Also read: Skoda Slavia Gets More Expensive Despite Features Reduction And More - Latest Prices
The way forward
While the old unit was very nice to use and had a great touch response, the new one is not too bad either. Also there are chances that Skoda might revert to the old units once the chip shortage eases out as they did offer retrofits when the auto-folding feature for ORVMs was removed. However for now the 8 inch unit will do duties on the two cars. As far as the Virtus and Taigun are concerned, no information has been shared by Volkswagen.
Let us know your thoughts on this step taken by Skoda in the comments below.
