The auto major which has already inked a memorandum of understanding with the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on November 26 for its $56 million investment, proposes to hold a ground breaking ceremony at the project site in early January in the presence of its chairman Vratislav Kulhanek. The company will display four Octavia and two Fabia models at the Delhi auto fair scheduled to start in the second week of January.

Skoda Auto also has plans to roll out the 1.91/47 kw diesel Fabia model in the middle of 2001 after changing it from the left hand to right hand driving. The Fabia which had been displayed for the first time at the Frankfurt International Auto Show in September this year, will hit the international market in early January next year. Another five units of Octavia will be unloaded from Prague in the last week of December to hold test runs in various parts of India.

Though the company has planned to produce 1,000 cars in the initial phase of its operations, Skoda's India representative Sunil Phadke said that "Our strategy is to calibrate everything to the size of market."

The company, which is unmoved by the launch of new cars and remodelling of the existing models by various auto players, plans to go in for an aggressive marketing for the launch and thereafter sale of Octavia. At present, three advertising agencies have gone to Prague to do their presentations.

Skoda also has plans to rope in auto financing companies to boost offtakes in the Indian market. However, the company sources declined to further divulge details on these fronts at this juncture. Interestingly, the company plans to achieve minimum indigenisation levels of 50 per cent in the third year and 70 per cent in the fifth year or earlier for its components.

After that, the company feels there will be no need for further import licencing from the DGFT. But it will discharge the export obligation corresponding to the imports made by them till that time.