Skoda targets competitive pricing for new compact SUV

SUV Pricing: Czech automotive manufacturer Skoda seems to have its work cut out for its upcoming compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) slated to go on sale in 2025.

The upcoming compact SUV will be made in India for domestic and export markets.

On February 3, PM Narendra Modi during his speech at the Bharat Mobility Expo had emphasised on the high contribution capability of the country's automobile industry to its export market.

Price, localisation targets

The new compact SUV from Skoda will enter a segment that already has a long list of players with well-established products like the Maruti Brezza, the Hyundai Venue and the Kia Sonet.

With the new compact SUV, Skoda will leverage the huge amount of localisation and the tax benefits available for sub-four-metre vehicles in order to achieve competitive pricing.

Piyush Arora, MD and CEO, Skoda Auto Volkswagen India, said, “Localisation is one of the major initiatives we had taken for this product and I’m sure we will be able to meet the market expectation with the pricing which will come out then,” citing media reports.

“For India 2.0, we had already said we have achieved almost 90 percent localisation and that is the number we want to do for India 2.5 as well," he said.

This new compact SUV will be the first product for Skoda under the new India 2.5 plan.

In order to achieve higher economies of scale, this compact SUV will piggyback on the already heavily localised supplier base for the MQB AO IN-based Skoda and VW cars that are currently on sale in India.

Powertrain choices

As far as its powertrain goes, Arora said that the heavily localised Indian engines, the 1.0 TSI and the 1.5 TSI turbo-petrol units, will see duty on India 2.5 models.

However, the business case for the larger 150 hp engine is still being evaluated for application in the compact SUV.

Arora said “In the India 2.0 segment, we have seen that there is a good demand for the 1.5-litre (turbo-petrol engine). But for the sub-four-metre compact segment, we’ll have to see if this really works or not.”

Export market

The made-in-India Skoda compact SUV will be a global model, as besides taking charge of the group's India operations, Skoda Auto also took over further development of the MQB A0's global development. This new SUV will be exported to markets like Mexico and Africa, and even to some South-East Asian markets like Vietnam.