Skoda: Sustained surge since arrival
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Volkswagen Group's Czech unit Skoda vows to continue rapid growth while introducing new products to the market in China, the world's top in vehicle sales and production.
"We are very confident that our sales in China will grow continuously," Reinhard Fleger, Skoda's board member for sales and marketing, said in an interview at the ongoing Beijing auto show:
"We have huge potential to grow and we will introduce more and more new products into China."
As a new entrant into the Chinese market, Skoda has doubled its sales every year since 2007.
Last year it sold 123,000 vehicles in China, accounting for one-fourth of the brand's global total.
"Although we cannot ensure that our sales here will continue to double in the years to come, we believe the sales figure will be much higher than it is now," Fleger said without revealing a target for this year.
Volkswagen's joint venture with SAIC Motor Co Ltd started to produce the Skoda Octavia compact sedan in 2007, the Fabia subcompact in 2008 and the Superb mid-sized sedan last year.
In the first quarter of this year, Skoda's sales in China jumped by 122 percent year-on-year to 42,707 units.
Peter Miling, Skoda's brand chief at the parent joint venture Shanghai Volkswagen Automobile Co Ltd, said the brand's doubling of sales every year is an outstanding achievement it could only make in the world's biggest vehicle market.
"We believe Skoda will continue to grow faster than China's overall vehicle market this year. At the same time, we are pursuing rational and sustainable growth," Miling said.
Overall vehicle sales in China rose by 72 percent to 4.61 million units in the first quarter of this year. Full-year sales are widely projected to grow by 15 to 20 percent.
The joint venture will further increase production capacity for the Skoda brand to meet mounting demands from Chinese buyers, he said.
The tie-up is also making Volkswagen's Santana, Polo, Passat, Touran and Lavida models.
Skoda is showing an Octavia sports derivative, the Octavia RS, at the Beijing motor show. The model, making its China debut, is equipped with a 2.0 TSI engine that produces 200hp and boasts peak torque of 280Nm. The locally made Octavia RS will be put on sale during the second half of this year.
Skoda also launched a 1.4-liter Superb mid-sized sedan at the Beijing auto show.
The model is equipped with a 1.4-liter TSI engine and seven-speed DSG transmission.
Sources from Shanghai Volkswagen said earlier this month that it is conducting a feasibility study on introducing Skoda's compact sports-utility vehicle, the Yeti.
The model was launched in Europe in May last year.
The joint venture plans to increase the number of Skoda sales outlets to 300 by the end of this year, up from 247 in 2009.
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