Skoda to focus on the Rapid

Skoda India, in an interview with a publication has revealed that the Rapid will be the core product of the company. Skoda doesn’t have any volume seller in its product portfolio and the Rapid is the entry-level Skoda one can buy.

Sudhir Rao, MD of Skoda India said, “We have to adapt our ways to India. Whatever experiments that we do on our products in terms of adaption will be done on the Rapid."

The Czech carmaker introduced the Fabia in 2008 but it didn’t excite the Indian small car buyer and the model was discontinued in 2013 owing to poor sales. We might see the upcoming 2015 Fabia, but as of now the company will continue its focus on the Rapid which is also the best-seller for Skoda. The Rapid sedan has been Skoda’s best-seller, having sold around 44,000 units since its launch in November 2011.

The Rapid will soon be given upgrades in the coming months, after the introduction of the facelifted VW Vento. Mechanically, the Rapid will get a new 1.5-litre engine and the addition of a DSG auto box. 

"We are basically looking at the Rapid as it is currently configured and how we can modify that and make it, still a Skoda, but yet a little bit more Indian. Depending on how the results of that pan out in the next six months, we will look at applying some of those same approaches to other variants," said Rao.

This piece of information might be bad news for people who are waiting for the 2015 Fabia as the  focus primarily being on the Rapid indicates that the Fabia won’t be coming soon.

Source: ACI