The encouraging bookings and sales of its cars in India has given Czech auto giant Skoda the confidence to work out new plans for the country.  

The company, part of German automaker Volkswagen, intends ramping up its Aurangabad plant capacity where the cars are assembled with five per cent locally-sourced components; as well as launching four new models by next year!

At the India launch of the Skoda Superb 2.0 TDI PD diesel variant – the V6 petrol version being already launched in Delhi - Director-Sales and Marketing, Thomas Kuehl informed reporters about the company’s plans of venturing into the small car, MPV and SUV segments in India.

Upbeat about the response the Skoda cars are getting in India, Kuehl said: “We sold 515 cars of all models last year. In the last 30 days, we have sold 300 units and booked orders for 300 more cars. The Aurangabad facility is flexible enough to assemble up to 40,000 units, so coping with more numbers will be easy. We are firmly positioned in the ‘D’ segment as No: 2 and had a 38 per cent growth last year.”

Skoda, which is also aiming at increasing the local content in its cars by next year, might gradually phase out its mid-market segment entrant Octavia; and bring in an estate-variant of the Skoda Fabia, its MPV Roomster, and its SUV Yeti!