SCOOP! Skoda to discontinue Fabia in India.

By -

Skoda is all set to pull the plug on the Fabia and will stop selling its only hatchback in the Indian market. However, Skoda will finish assembling Fabia kits before stopping production and hence the Fabia will continue to be sold, possibly till the end of this year, until stocks are exhausted.

Skoda’s decision to withdraw the hatchback from the market was prompted by the huge losses the company has been incurring on the Fabia. Successive price cuts over the years to prop up demand has seen this car shedding almost 40 percent of its price tag since its launch in 2008, which badly squeezed margins. The Fabia’s relatively low level of local content made it very expensive to produce and this problem was compounded by the Indian Rupee depreciation of 36 percent since 2008 which pushed up costs even higher. According to industry sources, Skoda was losing as much as Rs 1.5 lakh per car and hence the company was deliberately refraining from aggressively marketing the Fabia which sold a meagre 3,343 units in the 2012-2013 fiscal year. Last month Skoda sold a paltry 115 units. Earlier this year, Honda withdrew its premium hatchback the Jazz, for similar reasons as the car was just too expensive to produce.

Skoda is unlikely to re-launch the Fabia before 2015 and it's not clear if the successor will be a modified version of the existing car (SK 250) or all the all-new Fabia (SK 260) that’s due for an international launch next year. However, given the low demand for the Fabia, any option to bring it back to Indian shores has been put on hold for the moment.

This strategic decision to discontinue the loss-making Fabia is intended to help Skoda India focus its resources and efforts on new product launches and customer satisfaction which has been the Achilles' Heel of the company. The company is betting big on the new Octavia which Skoda hopes will become the segment leader after its launch this August. “We can re-deploy our resources from the unprofitable Fabia towards brand building for our other products and dealer network expansion” said a company official.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All new Ambassador makeover by Hindustan Motors in 2012 .

By -
Image
Sixty years back, the word ‘car’ in India literally meant the Ambassador for most Indians. A lot has changed since then, with horde of automobile manufacturers active in the Indian market, sales figures for Hindustan Motors have hit an all time low 5,510 units in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year. Over the years, it has been the Indian political class that has been keeping Hindustan Motors rolling. The latest blow to Hindustan motors came from the Govt. of India itself, which replaced the Ambassador with cars like the  Maruti SX4  and the  Tata Indigo CS considering safety and performance issues. The next-gen Ambassador will feature structural, aerodynamic and aesthetical chages. Changes on board the 2012 Ambassador include new engine calibrations, an anti-lock brake system and aluminium alloy wheels. For comfort, there will be new leather seats coupled with wood grain interiors. For the first time, there will also be an integrated music system and redesigne...
Read more

Force One to get 4x4 in mid-2012

By -
Image
Force Motors, which launched its first SUV, Force One, last August will launch a new 4x4 version and a variant equipped with ABS by mid-2012. The new 4X4 was displayed at the Auto Expo last month. At the launch, the company had indicated its intentions to offer more features in the SUV at a later stage. These features have made it to the SUV, but the company has been tight-lipped about launch date  and price tag. The 4x4 variant will continue to be powered by the FM-Tech 2.2-litre common-rail turbo-diesel motor that develops 139bhp and 32.6kgm of torque. It will be offered with a five-speed manual gearbox as is the case with the 4x2 version. There will be no visual changes to  differentiate the 4x4 from its 4x2 sibling, except for  the badge. We expect the ABS-equipped 4x4 version to  cost at least Rs 1 lakh more than the 4x2 variant, which costs Rs 10.65 lakh (ex-showroom,  Delhi). 
Read more

Maruti 800 replacement coming soon.

By -
Image
Authentic Cars  broke the news on the upcoming Maruti 800 way back in July last year   and now we bring you more info on the car that will finally replace the venerable Maruti 800.  This new car, to be called the Alto 800 (codename: YE3), is based on the Alto, but with significant modifications done to make it cheaper. Not to be confused with the Alto sold in Japan, the new Alto 800 is based on the current generation Alto (YG4) but with a new body and interior. As seen in the pictures, the design is rather basic but there is more than a passing resemblance to the Japanese Alto, especially from the front. The nose gets high-mounted headlights, a slim, slot-like grille and there is a huge secondary air-inlet opening above and below the bumper. The styling is in line with the current-generation Suzukis, and details like the slanting window-line point to an aggressive tip-forward stance. Also, there is a prominent character-line that runs on the sides, right from the head...
Read more