Even as it holds on to a 20 per cent market share in the C Plus segment with its flagship model Octavia, Skoda Auto is preparing for a end-2005 launch for the new Octavia which is an all-new car based on a totally different platform.
Interestingly, the new Octavia will not nudge the old one out of the showrooms. So it will be for the first time in India that a carmaker will be attempting to sell an older model along side its latest offering.
"We are aiming for a launch in the fourth quarter of 2005 (calender year) but this will not see us phasing out the current Octavia, we will sell both alongside," said Imran Hassen, managing director of Skoda Auto India.
The new Octavia, which hit the roads of Europe two months back is based on the Volkawagon A5 platform while the model currently selling in India is based on the A4 platform.
Skoda India which is expecting to sell 8000 cars in the country this year has set itself a target of selling 25,000 per year in three years.
The company's plant in Aurangabad has a capacity to assemble 15,000 vehicles at present so major capacity expansion plans are also underway as Skoda rides towards its 25,000 cars per year target, confirmed Hassen.
Hassen also said that this will involve a more focussed entry into the volumes driven C segment.
Skoda India is chasing a 10,000 cars per year target to achieve break-even and is set to do that by end-2005. The company which posted a turnover of around Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion) last calender year expects to register revenues of Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion) in the current year.
The Czech parent has chalked out a 7-year plan, starting 1999, to invest $ 56 million in the India. Skoda has sold around 13,000 units of the Octavia, Superb and L&K since 2001.
