Skoda Auto India is bullish on its growth prospects, notwithstanding the rising interest rates and lack of enthusiasm from customers.
The company, which sold about 20,000 units in 2010, is looking at a 50% growth in the current year , said Thomas Kuehl, member of the board, sales and marketing, Skoda Auto India. The optimism stems from the C-segment Rapid, which has received an overwhelming response and crossed the 1,500 booking mark within days of launch.
?The company, for the first time in India, has introduced online booking for Rapid and sold more than 25 cars through this channel,? said Kuehl, adding: ?We seek to introduce the online booking system for all our models in the near future.” Responding to a volley of questions, he said: ?We have plans to introduce Fabia and Yeti variants, apart from a few models on the existing line. We expect Rapid to garner 50% of our total sales next year, with diesel variant expected to hold 70% of total Rapid sales.?
Kuehl said the company was bullish on Rapid as it was set to take on the premium C-segment competitors like Honda City, Sx4, Verna in a big way. ?We do also see customers of other C-segment cars like Sunny, Fiesta, Dzire, Etios making inquiries on Rapid. India is a great market for us and Rapid, as an entry-level car for Skoda, with a made-in-India and made-for-India slogan, is set to ride high.? Kuehl said the company planned to sell 2,000 Rapids a month and hoped to sell 3,000 units by December.
He said: ?While customers are showing interest in owning a car, the current interest rates, inflation and market sentiment have forced them to postpone their buying decisions. We hope things will normalise in the near future as India is a matured market.?