Skoda India to Launch cheaper 1.6L Skoda Octavia

Skoda want to cash in further on the popularity of the octavia and now want to target consumers from the lower segments.Skoda now plan to introduce a cheaper 1.6L variant of the octavia.Though no mention has been made of whether it would be a petrol or diesel engine,in all probabilty it would be a petrol engine only[FSI or MPI not sure about that].

This move has been preempted by the recent price reduction of the Skoda laura in the form of a new variant the Ambiente[Ex-showroom price between 12.90lakhs to 13.21 lakhs depending on city ]which would have cannibalized sales of the Octavia.

Mr Karsten Bogun, Managing Director of the company, said: “We are looking at various updates on the Octavia, it ranges from style to powertrain but it would be premature to talk about it; we have not finalised anything on it as yet.”

However it would be interesting to see if Skoda manage to price the octavia on par with the Honda city,what Skoda need to keep in mind is thats its diesel engines are the main reason for the popularity of the Skoda brand apart from the German build quality,a diesel engine from skoda at that price level would be a killer blow.Also Skoda may have to compete with its inhouse rival the VW Jetta with VW too having similar plans.However one thing is clear this aging model is not going to die out in a hurry.

[Source:Hindu]

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