Skoda Fabia News

The Toyota Yaris-size Fabia is considered to be a good sales prospect in the current market. However, currency exchange rates are making it difficult to build a case for the light car locally, Skoda spokesman Karl Gehling says. Earlier this year the head of Skoda Australia, Matthew Weisner, gave a glimmer of hope by saying that the Fabia RS Concept shown at Geneva could be the best way to launch the car here. The RS could help launch Fabia with a top-down strategy. Like Suzuki and its Alto, Skoda also has an option of sourcing the future Fabias from a low-cost country like India, where the car will be built alongside the new-generation Polo. The RS uses a 1.4-litre TSI four cylinder engine, from the Golf, which has a turbocharger and supercharger for performance and economy.

The Fabia RS Concept was revealed at the Geneva Motor Show last month and is being targeted as the best way to bring the Skoda starter car to Australia. The RS uses the 1.4-litre TSI sports engine from the Volkswagen Group, with a combination of a supercharger and turbocharger, as well as a body kit which pumps the car out to a similar look to Czech company's latest S2000 rally challenger. "We've said this is where we need to be with the Fabia to make it work in Australia. It's exciting stuff," says the head of Skoda, Mathew Wiesner. "If we can get a hero car like that then it could be a better option, to feed the car in from the top down. Particularly given that many of our colleagues in the industry have been looking at going the other way." The Fabia RS, which will be built under the company's V-sport division, is headed for the road in Europe next year and Wiesner would like to get it as soon as possible. The brand has just re-worked its Octavia range and is also planning for the arrival of the prestige Superb before the end of this year. "The timing is 2010 in Europe so it would be the second half of 2010, at the earliest, for us," Wiesner says. But work on the regular Fabia models is still stalling on prices, as Skoda would need to get the car well under the $20,000 price point and away from the Volkswagen Golf. "Every time we've sat down and done the numbers it's been difficult. And currency has made it more difficult. "Once we've got more information on the RS we might re-think the Fabia strategy. We know how cars like this can go in Australia, with the cult following for cars like the Subaru WRX. It would be good to built that sort of cult status with a Fabia. "We're not sure what engine will be in the car, expect that it will be a petrol motor and not a diesel." Wiesner knows he also has the updated Octavia RS coming later in the year, with more punch with a 147 kiloWatt engine and DSG gearbox as well as some body changes, and believes the brand could take a different path in Australia. "We need to do some better and smarter things with the larger cars we've got coming. The way we evolve here could be very different to the way Skoda is seen in Europe. "RS is in the third quarter and Scout should be around then, hopefully. We're still waiting for confirmation, but the trick is to get the production lined up so we can do both at the same time."

The car has recently completed the vehicle homologation process, allowing it to enter FIA competition.Skoda’s Motorsport factory team will compete with two crews: Czechoslovakia’s Jan Kopecký with Petr Starý (co-driver) as one, and Finland’s Juho Hänninen and Mikko Markkula as the second.The Fabia S2000 carrries a 2-litre, four-cylinder engine that develops 245Nm of torque, with a six-speed sequential transmission driving all four wheels.Video footage shows the car in hard testing on dry and snow-bound tracks. 

The VW-owned Czech brand has given its strongest hint yet that it will take on the small car market in Australia next year as it looks for a way to increase its volume after what has been a mediocre rebirth of the brand in this country. Skoda has been struggling as a niche player in the increasingly crowded Down Under market - its sales volume so far this year of just 575 units puts it behind its established European rivals Alfa Romeo, Saab, Fiat and Jaguar. Skoda sells the Octavia liftback and wagon, Roomster hatch/people mover and Scout crossover wagon. An upbeat Skoda Australia boss Matthew Wiesner says the brand will weather the financial crisis and should finish the year with about 850 sales, which is well down on its earlier market penetration forecast. He admits the range is predominately top heavy and needs an entry in the light or small car market to increase volume. "The next step is to broaden our range; obviously we need a smaller entry car, that's where the volume will come from," he told CarsGuide. The availability of a direct shift manual/automatic transmission (DSG) across the range is also expected to win the hearts of buyers, especially women. He revealed at the launch of the Octavia RS Tdi this week he had meet with Skoda officials at the Paris Motor Show - the one hour meeting extending to three hours as he successfully argued the case that Australia needed to diversify. The small Fabia, a five-door hatch and wagon, will likely go sale here by the third quarter next year to take on the likes on Peugeot's 207/307, Honda Jazz and Citroen C3/C4. "It's looking (the arrival of the Fabia) more likely. We had a good and long meeting in Paris. We are now down to talking about models, transmissions, engines and specification," Wiesner said. But price may be the sticking point. `We would love to get the Fabia at $19,990, that seems to be the starting point nowadays, but the spread of models will fit in the low to mid $20,000 bracket." And a slow down in production at the Skoda plant near Prague because of a fall in demand for new cars in Europe due to the economic crisis may work in Australia's favour, he said. It would free up space on the production line for right-hand drive models. Mr Wiesner says Australia still has its hand up for Skoda's forthcoming Yeti, the brand's first proper SUV. Meanwhile, Skoda Australia is planning to freshen and widen its existing line up next year. From February, the existing petrol Octavia RS will come with the availability of a manual/automatic DSG gearbox for the first time; it and the diesel version will gain audio controls and DSG paddle shift mounted on the steering wheel. Skoda will add the larger four-cylinder Superb mid year and follow that with a V6 flagship model at the end of next year - a saloon which will be optioned with a self parking guidance system. Meanwhile a restyled Octavia, shown at the recent Paris Motor Show, will arrive in March and will feature a new 1.8-litre engine and a seven-speed DSG transmission A new RS model, based on the new Octavia, will come later in the year but retain its six-speed DSG gearbox, not the seven-speed which will be fitted to base models.  

Two contenders have been erased from the list of price-driven starter cars for Volkswagen in Australia.The German brand is desperate to get a value champion to sit below the $16,990 Polo, but has just eliminated the European Fox and a new concept car that will be revealed at the Frankfurt Motor show next month.Volkswagen Group Australia says it also has no plan to use a car from Skoda, its new Czech value line, to run the role.“What we need in this area is a normal car that is not expensive. Basic transport,” Volkswagen Group Australia managing director Jutta Dierks says.Dierks says the Fox, which is priced right in Europe, will not work for Australia.“We are not after a small Fox. It does not have an automatic transmission and it's too small,” she says.“We would like a nice car that's value for money, with five doors. That's probably what we are missing from the whole Asia-Pacific region. I hope we are moving in that direction, but it's not confirmed.”Dierks is already ruling out the Volkswagen concept, called the City Expert, even though it looks ideal.VW says “the heart . . . will beat where the flat-four `boxer' engine once did in the Beetle.”That points to a compact urban runabout with a rear engine, but no other details will be available until the Frankfurt show, though VW does say the car is its response to the motto for this year's show: “See what's driving tomorrow”.And what is the potential for the City Expert in Australia?“It would be pure speculation. We have discussed it for years and it does not exist so far, not to my knowledge. Hopefully someone is working on this,” Dierks says.Which brings the starter-car plan back to Skoda, which is working on a deal to bring the new Fabia hatch to Australia later next year. But Dierks says it cannot fill the sub-Polo place.“The car we are talking about is something really different. But basic transportation in this country does not mean two people,” she says. 

Being top of the class is just as important for carmakers as it is for school students.Which is why the failure of the Honda Civic hybrid and Skoda Fabia to score the maximum five-star rating in the latest European New Car Assessment Program results may not please their parents.Both small cars achieved a four-star rating out of a possible five, which is above average but not excellent.By comparison, there are plenty of other five-star small cars available, including the latest Peugeot 207, Toyota Corolla, Holden Astra, Mercedes-Benz A-Class, Citroen C4 and Fiat Punto.For the Civic and Fabia, the devil is in the detail.The Fabia lost a point for containing dangerous structures in the dashboard, which presented an injury risk to adult occupants.It also lost two points for child protection and scored two stars in the ever under-performing pedestrian protection category.The Civic hybrid lost a point for adult protection because the driver's airbag did not prevent the dummy's head from connecting with the steering wheel.However, it performed far better for child protection and pedestrian protection.The Civic hybrid is the second environmentally concerned car tested by Euro NCAP.The first was the Toyota Prius in 2004, which managed a five-star score for adult occupant protection. The latest results have been eagerly anticipated because European fleet buyers and consumers are increasingly seeking vehicles with lower CO2 emissions and higher safety scores, to benefit from the growing use of tax incentives.Euro NCAP's secretary-general, Adrian Hobbs, says consumers may ask themselves whether high safety scores and a hybrid powertrain can go hand in hand.“Honda and Toyota have shown they are rising to the challenge in their efforts to meet concerns about safety and global warming,” he says. “It is now up to other manufacturers to follow in their footsteps.”The front-impact test is conducted at 64km/h into an offset deformable barrier, the side-impact test at 50km/h, the pole test 29km/h and the pedestrian tests 40km/h.

The most important element of the Skoda effort in Australia is still not confirmed. It is the Fabia, a baby hatchback that should eventually become the brand's best seller Down Under.The Fabia was launched in Europe only this year; the Fabia combi wagon will come towards the end of the year.Skoda Australia is pushing for a starting price below $17,000 to give it the best chance of success.“For the time being we have made no decision on the Fabia,” Skoda Australia head Matthew Wiesner says.“We do not have the necessary volumes available. It also has something to do with the price. And it has something to do with the segment structure in Australia."“Maybe the Fabia combi is more appropriate to the Australian market.”The Fabia is a sellout in Europe. There could be an opportunity for more volume once the Fabia goes into production in India.“It is one of the opportunities, but this would be an opportunity only from 2010 on,” Wiesner says.Skoda would like to have the Fabia in Australia by 2009, once it has laid the foundations for the brand with the cute little Roomster wagon and the larger Octavia.Further on, it is banking on a small four-wheel-drive called the Yeti and a full line of cars up to the Superb flagship, which will be revealed late this year.Eckhard Schultz, head of product development at Skoda headquarters in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, says the company will have two new models a year for at least the next five years.“We have our own design, packaging and special solutions,” he says. “Skoda is about lifestyles and practical solutions.”Wiesner won't talk specifically about future products, but says he is looking at everything.“If we want to be successful long-term we have to have the full product range,” he says. “It was a strategic decision to come to Australia. We want to open the market in the long term."“We will look for opportunities over time. You cannot do everything at the same time. We are not in a hurry.” 

Australia is about to get another car brand. The total is already running close to 50, with only four local manufacturers, but that is no deterrent to Skoda of the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic's Skoda brand will return to Australia in October.But you can forget those clunky yet sturdy Eastern European Skodas of the Cold War period.The new Skoda is owned by Volkswagen and with the disciplined German parent comes Teutonic know-how, engineering and quality standards.In Australia, the new-look brand will be distributed by Volkswagen Group Australia, after its debut at the Sydney Motor Show.Sales will kick off with the mid-size front-wheel-drive Octavia sedan and wagon and a funky-looking five-door wagon-cum-people mover called the Roomster, both built at a modern plant at Mlada Boleslav near Prague.Topping the range will be the high-performance 147kW, 2-litre FSI turbocharged Octavia RS.The line-up will be fleshed out next year with the VW Polo-sized Fabia, which has just been revealed at the Geneva Motor Show.By early 2009, the next-generation version of its long-wheelbase Superb sedan should be available.Skoda's key selling point will be prices, expected to start from about $16,000 for the Fabia, up to the mid-$40,000s for the Superb.Though it uses VW engines and components, being built in low-cost Eastern Europe means Skodas are 5 to 8 per cent cheaper, yet bigger, than their equivalent Volkswagen models.Volkswagen Group Australia executives believe this makes them particularly appealing for cost-conscious Australian buyers who hanker for a European car.Originally, Skoda chairman and chief executive officer Detlef Wittig had hoped to get the brand into Australia last year, but pricing and local identity issues delayed the plans.Now these hurdles have been cleared, the company is moving ahead quickly.Volkswagen Group Australia general manager, press and public relations, Matthew Wiesner has been appointed head of Skoda Australia and it's his job to relaunch the brand.At first the Octavia and Roomster will be sold through 15 existing VW dealerships.Wiesner emphasised that Skoda and VW would be distinct, even more so than BMW, which sells its Mini brand through associated dealers."You won't see shared Volkswagen-Skoda showrooms. We've got to give them more separation," he says."Obviously we need to protect what we've done with Volkswagen, but at the same time grow the Skoda branding."Eventually up to half of VW's 56 dealers nationally could sell Skodas."By the end of 2008 we'd like to have about 25 dealers," he says."The regional-rural side of the business will be very important, particularly with Skoda's turbo-diesel line-up."With VW's well-developed network and highly trained technicians, servicing and logistics should not be a problem.Wiesner is mindful that the company's lack of profile will need to be addressed. Skodas have not been sold here for almost 25 years."We've got to be creative about how we sell the Skoda message. We need to reasonably clever in how we go about it," he says."It's a pretty congested market, so we have to come up with a reasonable answer to the question of why you would consider a Skoda."He is not about to spill the beans about just what he has in mind, at least until the cars go on sale in October.He is also aware of other brands such as Renault, which has struggled to regain ground in our market when re-launching in 2001 after being popular here in the 1970s.The French company has poured millions into Australia over the past six years trying to get traction for its products.Australia is one of the most congested new car markets in the world, a fact that Wiesner is acutely aware of.He describes himself as "cautious but optimistic" about Skoda.Today there are 41 different passenger car brands seeking a slice of the sales pie and Skoda must find its place in an ultra-competitive market.Ultimately, too, if the Czech is a success it could cannibalise VW sales.`Yes, we have to be mindful of that," Wiesner says. "That's why it has taken such a long time to put this together."We need to be very careful how we approach both marques, because there's no point robbing Peter to pay Paul."You get one opportunity to do it properly."Wiesner conceded that positioning Skoda and not sacrificing VW sales was one of the hardest aspects of developing the new business.Ultimately, the spin doctors, through print and television advertising, will be working overtime to tell consumers that each brand is distinct."We're hoping the Skoda buyer will be an aspirational European buyer who might not have been able to stretch themselves before," Wiesner says."They might always have been Japanese buyers who have aspired to Europe and hopefully we'll give them that opportunity."Last year VW Group Australia had a stellar year, selling more than 20,000 vehicles, so the arrival of Skoda presents a real threat to VW's continuing local growth.Apart from Skoda, Fiat and Dodge are recent returns and the prospect of China-sourced cars arriving soon courtesy of Ateco Automotive will add further sales congestion.Nor is the Skoda boss prepared to predict sales forecasts, saying only that the Skodas would be good value."Volume is important, of course, but we're here for the long haul, so that's something we see as a long-term challenge," he says."We don't want to place any unwarranted expectations on the brand."But we do have to make sure it is accepted in the market place."Skoda's rise in Europe is a result of the crumbling of the old Eastern bloc countries.I N 1991 it came in from the cold when Volkswagen AG bought 30 per cent of shares in a newly established joint-venture company.Later, it increased its holding to 70 per cent and in 2000, bought the remaining shares to assume 100 per cent ownership.Today Skoda sells cars in more than 90 countries, has plants in seven countries and employs more than 27,000 people.Last year it sold 549,667 vehicles, an increase of more than 11 per cent over the previous year, a sales record for the brand.The Octavia was the highest-selling model worldwide at 270,274, outselling the Fabia's 243,982.From its humble origins, the Czech carmaker has embraced the capitalist West and will soon embrace Australia. HERE IS THE COMING LINE-UPFABIATHIS VW Polo-sized light car borrows visual cues from the Mini Cooper and Suzuki Swift.Launched at last year's Paris Motor Show, it offers ultra-frugal, three-cylinder, High Torque Performance (HTP) petrol and TDI engines, as well as a 16-valve, 63kW, 1.4-litre and 77kW, 1.6-litre petrol models. The 1.6-litre is offered with a six-speed tiptronic automatic. The 1.4 and 1.6 petrol units are likely to come to Australia.At 3992mm long and with a wheelbase of 2462mm, the Fabia is just 76mm longer overall and sits on a 3mm longer wheelbase than the Polo. It also has 300 litres of luggage space.Among the car's features in Europe are six airbags, climate control airconditioning and active headlights. But Australia is unlikely to see this level of equipment.PRICE: From about $16,000 OCTAVIAPEOPLE familiar with the VW Passat recognise the Octavia.Like the Passat, this mid-size offering is available as a front-wheel-drive sedan and wagon and will be aimed squarely at the premium-priced Japanese models such as the Mazda6, Honda Accord Euro, Subaru Liberty and soon-to-be Ford Mondeo.In Europe, an all-wheel-drive wagon using a Haldex system is also available.The three-model line-up consists of the entry Classic, mid-range Ambiente and luxury Elegance. A high-performance RS model is also sold.The Octavia is powered by a range of petrol and turbo-diesel engines ranging in size from a 110kW, 2-litre FSI up to a 125kW, 2-litre TDI and a 147kW, 2-litre FSI four-cylinder in the RS. In Europe a 1.9-litre TDi is also sold, alongside a 55kW, 1.4-litre and 75kW, 1.6-litre four-cylinder.There is even a 1.4-litre model available.Five and six-speed manual transmissions are available along with a six-speed VW-sourced DSG manual.PRICE: From about $30,000 SUPERBTHE Superb is essentially a long-wheelbase version of the Octavia pitched into the higher end of the market.Offering extra legroom in the back and plenty of leather and luxury, the Superb uses the Passat's older 142kW, 2.8-litre V6 petrol and 120kW, 2.5-litre six-cylinder TDI engines, both available with a tiptronic five-speed automatic.Apart from the sixes, the long-wheelbase sedan is also available in Europe with a 110kW, turbocharged 1.8-litre and a naturally aspirated 85kW, 2-litre four.Apart from the petrol engines, European models also offer 1.2 to 1.6-litre petrol and 1.4 and 1.9-litre diesels, though these are unlikely for Australia.PRICE: About $45,000 ROOMSTERTHE Roomster started out as a funky concept car at the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show and a production version was unveiled last year.Distinguished by its high-set, van-like styling, it is a versatile, five-door mini people mover similar in concept to the VW Caddy that can easily be converted from a five-seater into a load-lugging two-seater.The Roomster Scout adds plastic-cladding around the body to give it an off-road look, though the car remains front-wheel drive.As with the Fabia, there is a choice of petrol and turbo-diesel engines from 1.2-litre, 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre petrol engines, as well as frugal 1.4 and 1.9 TDI engines.PRICE: From about $27,000