Skoda giving priority to low cost car platform for India over US entry - Report

25/10/2017 - 14:37 | Skoda | Dhruv Saxena

Skoda is shifting its focus to the Indian market giving it priority over some other projects. Parent company Volkswagen has directed Skoda to develop a low-cost car platform engineered for developing markets such as ours.

Skoda prioritizing Eco low cost car platform for India
Skoda has had to delay its plans of entering the US market as it shifts its focus towards developing the 'Eco' low-cost car platform for India.

The decision to prioritize India means the company' s US market entry may take longer than initially planned. Autocar India quotes CEO Bernhard Maier who said that Skoda would need more time to work on the US plans. He said:

The Group has asked us to lead development of a platform with a strong focus on India and to investigate building that business sustainably and in a predictable manner.

That is a huge task, and we must always approach projects one step at a time. There is no hurry to rush into the US and no deadline to even decide if we should be looking to go there. There’s no need to make a decision right away.

Volkswagen MQB Platform
The low-cost car platform being developed by Skoda is essentially parent company VW's MQB re-engineered to suit the needs of the Indian market.

Also See - Skoda ends JV with Tata

Skoda has been tasked with developing the 'Eco' small car platform, which is reported as a de-contented version of VW's MQB that is lighter and less expensive to manufacture. However, as the report adds, VW and Skoda are yet to finalize whether an optimized version of the MQB A0, which underpins the likes of the new gen Polo is financially more viable than inking another JV to utilise an existing platform.

[source - Autocar India]

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