Skoda's Aussie model rush

Volkswagen's budget brand Skoda is about to embark on a model blitz and appoint more dealers.

A facelifted Scout soft-roader is due in August, the facelifted RS Octavia sports hatch is due in September, the Yeti compact SUV (more here) should be here by this time next year, and the updated Fabia small car will hopefully follow soon after.

But the best news, says the company's local boss, Matthew Wiesner, is that more Australians have heard of the Czech brand than ever before.

Not long after Skoda Australia was established two years ago, less than half the people polled had even heard of the brand. Today, 60 per cent of people in the market to buy a new car have heard of Skoda. There's just one catch, however, the number of people polled intending to buy a Skoda is still tiny.

"But we have a plan for that," says Wiesner. "We have some new models on the way, and we are learning more and more about Skoda customers every day."

The company launched its new Superb sedan this week. That's not a verdict on the car, merely the self-indulgent name Skoda gave its VW Passat-sized vehicle. (The name is a nod to history; the original Skoda Superb was a three-tonne flagship built between 1934 and 1949.)

Priced between $42,990 and $56,990 the Superb range is powered by a choice of three engines: a 1.8 turbo petrol, 2.0 turbo diesel and a 3.6 V6. It is designed to compete with medium cars from Japan and Germany, and the premium versions of the locally-made large cars.

The Superb is classed as a sedan but it has a boot that also opens like a hatch. The patented design allows you to choose at the press of a button whether you want to open just the boot, or the whole rear hatch. The result is a bigger cargo area than a Ford Falcon or Holden Commodore. The car also has comparable rear leg room to a Holden Statesman.

It is this kind of uniqueness and functionality that Skoda hopes will help it carve a niche in the market. The company says it has been encouraged by having forward orders for the Superb even before the car went on sale.

Skoda's DNA is to offer roomy cars with clever interiors, the best example of which is the quirky box-shaped Roomster.

"We've done some study groups with Roomster owners and it really is fascinating. These buyers are extremely practical, they do their research and know what they want," Wiesner told the Carsales Network.

He said most Skoda customers were first time buyers of a European car and were typically trading-in Subarus, Hondas and Mazdas. The other popular group of buyers were those trading-in French cars.

"These are people who look outside the square, they don't mind something a bit different."

Apparently they also like to travel. Skoda is in the process of establishing more than 20 service points in rural and regional areas, including Darwin, Alice Springs, and Far North Queensland. The service points will be Volkswagen or Audi dealers that don't necessarily sell Skoda cars but have the appropriate diagnostic equipment and access to parts.

Skoda is also increasing the number of selling dealers nationally. There are 19 retail points currently, but that number will grow to 25 by the end of the year, including two dealers which are about to open in Tasmania (Launceston and Hobart). Tasmanian Skoda fans have until now being buying their cars from Victorian dealers and shipping them back.

By 2012, Skoda plans to have 35 dealers. "But we don't want to grow too fast," says Wiesner.

"We want to gear the business up gradually. As new models come and we have more of a model range, this will help make the business more viable for the dealers."

He said Skoda Australia does not expect to return a profit for a few years but the dealers should be profitable "sooner than that".

Skoda sales are up 17 per cent in a market that's down 19 per cent, but of course these figures come from a low base. In 2008, Skoda's first full year in the market, the company sold 818 cars. In the first five months of 2009 it sold 347 vehicles, more than 300 of which were the recently facelifted Golf-based Octavia.

"Hopefully as we introduce new models this will deliver incremental sales," says Wiesner.

A master of understatement, Wiesner said the global financial crisis was "not the ideal time" to still be in the launch phase of a new brand, but said Skoda was holding its own.

"It's tough for the smaller European brands out there. We're clearly taking some sales away from them," he said. "If we continue the way we are, June will be our strongest month ever."

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