German car giant Volkswagen, which also includes Czech car maker Skoda and luxury car maker Audi, among others, had a lacklustre 2024 in India. According to data from the Federation of Auto Dealers Association (FADA), Skoda Auto Volkswagen Group sold 79,427 units in India last year, down from 92,228 units in 2023. The group’s market share also declined to 1.95 per cent in 2024 from 2.38 per cent, a year prior. On a standalone basis, Skoda’s sales in India declined 26 per cent to 36,000 units in 2024.
But, all that could change rapidly this year, with Skoda entering the largest selling sub-four meter SUV segment with its brand new Kylaq, which will be followed up by other launches, including the new Kodiaq, as well as the Octavia and Superb sedans later in the year. The Enyaq EV will also drive into India this year.
However, the Kylaq will undoubtedly be its biggest sales driver this year. The sub-four metre compact SUV segment is the most popular segment in the country. SUVs already account for over half of the total passenger vehicles sold in India, and compact SUVs are a major chunk.
The segment is already crowded with strong brands like Tata Motors’ Nexon, Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Hyundai Venue and Kia Sonet. In that sense, Skoda is a late entrant, but Petr Janeba, Skoda Auto India’s brand director, is hopeful of getting an 8 per cent segment share in the first full year of production.
“From a production perspective, we are ready for around 90,000 cars (full year); in peak months, it can be 9,000 if we have all parts. From a market perspective, I do believe 8 per cent, which is a solid segment share in this biggest segment in India,” Janeba told THE WEEK.
The Kylaq will be based on the same MQB-A0-IN platform, which underpins the existing Skoda Kushaq mid-size SUV, the Slavia sedan as well as Volkswagen’s Taigun and Virtus.
The Kylaq is powered by a 1-litre TSI petrol engine mated to the manual or automatic transmission. Price starts at Rs 7.89 lakh ex-showroom, for the base model, which is only available in manual transmission, going up to Rs 13.35 lakh for the top-spec manual and Rs 14.40 lakh for the automatic.
The company has already got 15,000 bookings for the Kylaq, and according to Janeba, there have also been around 1.6 lakh enquiries. Deliveries for the Kylaq start on January 27.
Skoda’s have been known for safety, and the Kylaq, too, gets full five stars in the Bharat NCAP crash tests. Even the base version of the Kylaq has over 25 safety features, including the standard six airbags.
A key complaint buyers have had in the past is that Skoda’s after-sales service was expensive. A major reason for that was most of the parts were imported. Skoda has focused a lot on addressing that problem with the Kylaq.
According to Janeba, with the Kylaq, the company has achieved 96 per cent localisation of parts, which has helped it price the product attractively.
“If you bring the parts from Europe, it doesn’t really work. There are still suppliers, which are still taking some of the parts from Europe, but most of the things are local,” he said.
Kylaq will also help it expand its addressable market in India.
“Last year, without Kylaq it (addressable market) was like 25 to 27 per cent. This year, we will grow to over 60 per cent. So, more than half of the market of the potential new car buyers are actually our target audience now,” pointed Janeba.
With Kylaq targeting more consumers in the country, Skoda is also expanding its dealer network from around 270 touchpoints last year to over 350 this year, enhancing its footprint in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
With the Kylaq, Skoda has initially planned to focus only on India. But, Janeba says, since the product has been revealed, there have been enquiries for it from a few other markets, and it may start some exports in September.
While Kylaq will be Skoda’s biggest volume driver this year, the company has planned several other launches in the Indian market.
Production of the new generation Kodiaq starts towards the end of February, Janeba said. Also importantly, it is set to bring back its popular Octavia and Superb sedans to India later this year. And yes, Skoda also wants to bring back Superb in its diesel avatar.
“If I look for premium manufacturers in the segment like Superb, they sell 60 per cent diesel. So, we definitely will bring diesel back,” said Janeba.
Skoda recently unveiled the Enyaq EV facelift. This electric vehicle, which has been popular in Europe, will be launched in India this year, he added. The company had earlier disclosed that it was working on a completely locally manufactured EV for the Indian market, expected to be launched later in 2027.
