Skoda’s dismal performance in the Indian automotive market is further highlighted as the company manages to sell less than 1500 cars in May 2015. Skoda is also offering a range of offers on the Rapid, Superb and Yeti model range to get sales going.
Skoda’s sales and service issues in the Indian car market are coming to haunt the company once again. The German car manufacturer has a loyal fan following of few of its cars in our country, however, even this has not helped the brand sell a decent number of cars every month. There are many reasons attributing to this. Firstly, owning a Skoda car is not cheap due to the company’s higher maintenance costs (when compared to Japanese rivals) with the unsatisfactory after sales experience and secondly, the resale value of Skoda vehicles is not good as well.
In the month of May 2015, the car maker managed to sell less than 1500 cars. That’s right! The company could only sell 1316 cars in total with the Rapid contributing the highest number of 1029 units, followed by the terrific Octavia at 217 units. The Superb could only manage 63 units, while the Yeti continues to be one of the worst performing vehicles in India, selling just 7 units last month, even though it is quite a good product.
In line with this update, Skoda has gone on to introduce various offers for the Rapid, Yeti and Superb model range in order to get sales going. These offers give owners an easy and hassle free buying experience. Called EMI Holiday, the new scheme is availabale for the entire range of the Rapid and Superb sedans for a period of up to 7 years (84 months) and customers opting for the same will have to pay an EMI of just Rs. 1/- for the first 6 months.
In addition to this, the company is also offering an interest rate of 7.99 percent for the Rapid and Superb models. Buyers looking to opt for this offer can choose a tenure of up to 5 years depending on the offer that they choose. An optional extended warranty (2+2) and road side assistance program (2+2) can also be availed alongside the 7.99 percent interest rate offer on the Rapid, while a 7 percent interest rate is also being offered for the Yeti SUV but only on the 4X2 variant, up to a period of 5 years.
All the aforementioned offers are available only via Skoda Finance and these offers can be availed till 30th June 2015 across all Skoda dealerships. It seems highly unlikely that these marketing gimmicks will get the ball rolling for Skoda once again. The company should instead focus on building its brand value further and needs to get a product in the mass market segment, like the Fabia hatchback.
