Skoda to boost pre-owned biz
Czech carmaker Skoda is looking to scale up its pre-owned car business, enter the CNG segment and expand sales network as it aims to double volumes in the Indian market this year, according to a top company executive.
The carmaker, which sold around 36,000 units in the country last year, expects its SUV portfolio, which now includes a compact SUV , to push its sales volume and market share in the country. 'We are looking to more than double our volumes this year. Our compact SUV will play a significant role and parallelly we are also expanding our sales network. Besides, we are also streamlining our product mix,' Skoda Auto India Brand Director Ashish Gupta told media in an interaction.
He noted that the company ended last year with sub 1 per cent market share which has now grown to around 1.8 per cent of the domestic passenger vehicle segment. 'We expect it to be in the range of 2.5-3 per cent by end of this year,' Gupta said. He noted that the company aims to end the current year with around 350 sales outlets from 296 touch points across the country. Gupta noted that from a ranking of 11th in the passenger vehicle segment, the company has now improved its position to 7th. 'We would like to hold on to this position. Kylaq is going to play a pivotal role in the company's growth story,' he noted.
Gupta stated that in order to scale up volumes, Skoda will scale up its pre-owned business this year, with focus on many first time buyers from the semi urban areas to get into its fold. 'If you want to grow the new car business, one needs to make its pre-owned business very strong...right now almost 80 per cent of our facilities are equipped to handle certified pre-owned cars. Our network currently does around 3,000 cars a year, idea is to scale it up by almost three times this end of this year,' Gupta said.
He noted that currently 60-65 per cent of the company's sales network is now based out of the semi urban areas.
When asked about the company's plans to introduce an EV in the domestic market, Gupta said the automaker is looking to launch a localised product. On entering the CNG segment, he stated: 'If we have to maintain relevance in the market share, we will have to evaluate various powertrain options and CNG is definitely one of them.' He however did not offer a timeline for foraying into the segment.
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