Sko reached volkswagen "test field"

Text/Leju Finance Li Shanshan

Born in 1895, Skoda has a history of more than a hundred years, and in 2006 it was only 16 years old in China, and this European brand that belongs to the Czech Republic but has long been acquired by Volkswagen is both old and young.

Positioned in the low-end market and cost-effective, Skoda was once a good helper for Volkswagen to win the championship in sales. However, entering the second half of 2021, unfavorable news about the Skoda brand has occupied the public's attention in various ways.

The sharp decline in sales, the successive investigation of executives, and the rumors of team dissolution have sent Skoda to the cusp of public opinion again and again, and its former glory has long gone.

In the case of Skoda's current non-existent hot models carrying the banner, in the many new models it has recently launched, in addition to the slight changes in the configuration and power system of the car, the rest of the changes have almost nothing, and Skoda's upgrade does not have much sincerity.

In the ever-changing environment of the automobile market, is this century-old brand going to fall behind?

New cars "not new"

On January 29, ŠKODA officially announced the price of the 2022 models, including Octavia, Octavia Pro, Xinrui, Komic/Komic GT, Kollok, and Speedpad. Most of the price positioning of the new models is not high, within 150,000, and only the price of Kolok and Speedpad is above 150,000.

It is worth noting that the configuration of new cars has been greatly reduced, and the availability of options has been reduced. Among them, Skoda's main sales product, Octavia, has streamlined 3 models to 2 models, canceling the high-end luxury version model; while xinrui's original 4 configuration models have been reduced to only 1 top model; speed pai has also been reduced from 5 models to 2 models of the old model.

Comparing the various models, it can be seen that the design of the new car is basically consistent with the old model in terms of appearance. In the design of the front face, the family's iconic air intake grille is adopted, the headlights on both sides are connected to the middle net, the lower surround is a blackened through-line design, and the surrounding and lower brackets of the grille are decorated with chrome trims.

Also unchanged is the interior of the new car, the materials are ordinary, and the sense of grade has not been improved. It is reported that Skoda's interior design has long been criticized by consumers, but despite this, Skoda has not significantly upgraded the interior.

In addition to this, the new model has only minor adjustments in terms of configuration and power. Among them, the new xinrui new car has added an 8-inch full LCD dashboard in the configuration of the whole series, and the luxury version model has also added parallel assist and automatic parking functions.

The Octavia Pro also adds lane departure warning, active braking, full-speed adaptive cruise, wireless charging of front mobile phones, and electric adjustment/heating/ventilation of front seats.

In terms of power, The Komic cancelled the 1.2T power version, while the Skoda Komic and Komic GT were both equipped with 1.5L engines with a maximum power of 82 kW and a maximum torque of 145 N·m, and the drivetrain was matched with a 6-speed automatic transmission.

Also changing the power is the speed, its previous 2.0T products are divided into high and low power, after the redesign of high power was eliminated, retaining low power and 1.4T engine. The drivetrain is matched with a 7-speed dry dual-clutch transmission and a 7-speed wet dual-clutch transmission.

According to the owner of the car, the shift of the 7-speed dry dual-clutch transmission is prominent, the double-mass flywheel is prone to rust, once rusty, it will continue to sound, and it is easy to have high temperature failures in the congested road for a long time.

Sales "waist chop"

According to public information, Skoda is a wholly-owned sub-brand of Volkswagen in Germany, headquartered in the Czech Republic, and is one of the four oldest car manufacturers in the world. In 2006, Skoda announced that it was officially introduced into the Chinese market, produced and sold by Shanghai Volkswagen, and the brand name was Shanghai Volkswagen Skoda, which is a joint venture car.

As the saying goes, it's good to cool off under a big tree. Thanks to the quality endorsement of the public, coupled with the lower price positioning, Skoda at that time was quite popular with consumers. In the car circle, there is even a saying: "Those who understand the public buy Skoda."

The improvement of word-of-mouth has made Skoda's domestic sales continue to rise for a while, reaching a peak of 352,000 vehicles in 2018. Although this figure is far from the annual sales target of 500,000 vehicles set by Skoda, it is already the highlight of the Skoda brand in China.

However, the good times did not last long, with 282,000 units sold in the domestic market of Škoda in 2019. In 2020, there was a serious decline, with annual sales in China only 173,000 vehicles, down 38.7% year-on-year.

In the past 2021, its sales have even been slashed, as low as 100,000 units, and only 71,000 new cars have been delivered, a decline of 58.8%. Its sales figures are even less than Volkswagen's luxury brand Porsche, which will sell about 95,700 new cars in China in 2021 in a fully imported manner.

The different models of Skoda are subdivided, and its main sales vehicle in China, the Octavia, will sell only 13,230 vehicles in 2021, and the Komic, with the highest average monthly sales, barely exceeded 15,000 units, reaching 18,404 units, while the sales of the remaining models are even more dismal.

It can be seen that Skoda currently has no explosive models, although it has updated and upgraded various models and actively launched 2022 new cars, but most of these modifications are superficial, and it is difficult to impress consumers. Under the aura of Volkswagen, Skoda has become a fringe brand.

Pending solution

In fact, this car brand, which can be called a predecessor in front of both the German Volkswagen and the Japanese Toyota, has long been reduced to a "test field for Volkswagen".

After Skoda was acquired by SAIC Volkswagen, in order to use its technology, it bent to obey Volkswagen's positioning strategy. While the Volkswagen brand focuses on technology and performance, the Skoda brand emphasizes high cost performance and is oriented to the low-end market. In this way, the profits of the Volkswagen brand itself can be avoided due to competition in the same door.

However, whether it is a family car or an SUV built by the MQB platform, Skoda is often one step faster than Volkswagen in new technologies, and some people even say that "Skoda is volkswagen's own son". In fact, Volkswagen's move is more suspicious of Letting Skoda test the waters of new technologies.

In addition to this identity, Skoda has also become a "hot potato" for the public. On December 29 last year, the official notice said that Ren Yun, the brand promotion business manager of SAIC Volkswagen Skoda, was suspected of serious violations of regulations and had been investigated by the organization. It is reported that Ren Yun has served as the senior director of saic motor's market competition strategy for many years, and in recent years, he has entered Skoda as its brand and marketing promotion executive.

In October of the same year, Xie Jinhui, chairman of the supervisory board of Skoda brand promotion, was also investigated for suspected violations. Two executive investigations in three months cast an indelible shadow on Skoda and even SAIC Volkswagen.

Skoda has always been weak in terms of brand power, and the reason for this may be that these two "man-made disasters" are also difficult to blame.

In addition, Volkswagen launched another cost-effective brand, Jetta, in 2019, focusing on the market of less than 100,000 yuan, forming a direct competitive relationship with Skoda. As a result of the competition, FAW-Volkswagen Jetta sold 169,000 units in 2021, and SAIC Volkswagen Skoda sold 71,000 units and lost.

It can be seen that various reasons have led to the loneliness of Skoda today. Faced with the dilemma of internal and external troubles, Skoda urgently needs to be reborn, re-positioned, and enhance the competitiveness of the brand.

Recently, Skoda released the official map of the mid-term modification of the Kodiak SUV, the product is closer to the younger and sportier in appearance, the interior is more technological, the configuration function is more comprehensive, and the layout of the large space is maintained. In terms of power, the entire series is equipped with a 2.0T engine, with a maximum power of 220 horsepower, matching a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission, and a four-wheel drive boost. To a certain extent, Skoda's action can be regarded as having opened the "counter-offensive" mode.

In addition, the trailer of the Skoda Jingrui special edition model was exposed, focusing on the competitive style. It is reported that the new car is scheduled to be officially unveiled on February 15 and listed in overseas markets within this year.