A report in October last year said that the Skoda Karoq will arrive in India this year. However, a fresh report from The Economic Times says that the launch will take place only next year.
The latest development comes straight from Ashutosh Dixit, Director (Sales, Service & Marketing), Skoda (India). Speaking to the business news publication, Mr. Dixit confirmed the Skoda Karoq and said: “In short term, we are focusing to launch our latest SUV Karoq in India in the next 12-18 months.”
The Skoda Karoq is the successor to the Skoda Yeti, which was discontinued in May last year. Looking like a smaller Skoda Kodiaq in many ways, it is a VW Tiguan equivalent. It was developed under the Polaris project after the Seat Ateca. Underpinned by the MQB platform, the C-SUV is available with 115 PS 1.0L TSI and 150 PS 1.5L TSI petrol engines and 115 PS 1.6L TDI and 150 PS/190 PS 2.0L TDI diesel engines. 6-speed manual and 7-speed DSG dual-cutch automatic are the transmission choices. An AWD system is available only with the 2.0L TDI engines.
In India, Skoda could offer the Skoda Karoq in the 150 PS 2.0L TDI MT FWD and 150 PS 2.0L TDI DSG AWD configurations. Key features may include full-LED headlamps, LED fog lights with cornering function, 18-inch alloy wheels, C-shaped LED tail lights, panoramic sliding roof, virtual instrument cluster and 10-speaker Canton sound system.
Also Read: Skoda Kodiaq review
The Skoda Karoq will compete with the likes of Jeep Compass, Hyundai Tucson and VW Tiguan in India. Skoda could price it in the INR 20-25 lakh (ex-showroom) bracket and position it below the VW Tiguan. For keeping the prices as low as possible, the company will likely locally assemble CKD kits imported from Kvasiny or Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic.
[Source: The Economic Times]
