Skoda may take Maruti help for small car

Skoda Auto India may take the help of Maruti Suzuki India in building its India-specific small car.

The Czech car maker, which is part of the Volkswagen Group, has not tasted much success with its lone hatchback offering in India, the Fabia, despite many price corrections and upgrades of the car.

Now, as part of the global alliance between Volkswagen Group and Suzuki Motor Corp, Skoda may get help in building its small car from Maruti.

“We are bringing out a small car in 2012 where Maruti inputs could be possible,” said Thomas Kuehl, board member and director, sales & marketing, Skoda Auto India. He said Maruti is the expert in low-cost manufacturing and it  made sense for Skoda to seek inputs.

He said the small car would be priced anywhere between Rs3-5 lakh and be positioned somewhere between the A-Star and the Chevy Beat.’

There has been a lot of speculation about the Volkswagen-Suzuki alliance resulting in rebadging of certain Maruti cars by Volkswagen, but Skoda obviously doesn’t subscribe to this view.

Kuehl said there were no plans to rebadge any old Maruti cars under the Skoda brand as part of the collaboration.

To a question on the Fabia, Kuehl said after refreshing the car and “inserting Rs50,000 value into it”, Skoda was targeting monthly sales of 2,000-2,500 units against the current average of just 800 a month.

Kuehl said there has been a price correction of about Rs30,000 on the base 1.2 litre variant which now comes for Rs4.35 lakh. The top-end 1.6 petrol is priced at Rs5.99 lakh, while the diesel ones come between at Rs5.40 lakh to Rs6.69 lakh (all prices ex-showroom, Delhi). The new pricing is despite Skoda loading the cars with more powerful engines and introducing the 1.6 litre petrol one.

He admitted that with prices down, Fabia was witnessing never-before enquiries and a new buyer would have to wait 1.5 months to get delivery even now.

He said Skoda plans to double sales to 40,000 units next year, largely by selling more than double the number of Fabias sold in 2010. Also, additional sales would be generated by the new entry level sedan slated for launch next year.