Skoda Global Sales Surge

[RSOK]

See Skoda Sales Climbing In Australia And Globally | Reviews | Prices | Australian specifications

"Volkswagen's Czech brand, against the tide, has recorded a remarkable global sales resurgence – it’s up 20.1 percent year-to-date.... globally, it has just experienced the strongest June in its history with 81,300 sales.

In Australia, Skoda also achieved a monthly record for June, with 238 sales (938 year-to-date), up 33 percent for the month and up 47 percent YTD.

The Octavia has the lion's share of sales... but the Superb is finally starting to move... is up 116.9 percent YTD."

Seems more and more folks both here and abroad are "getting it" as far as Skoda's offerings go, which of course is something we all "got" some time ago... great to see the brand going from strength to strength in numerous markets!!

[woofy]

I still find it odd that one of the bigger and more successful dealers (Bayford) went from hiring more people to shutting down over a "dispute". It explains why I kept seeing brand new Skodas unloaded into the yard at Camberwell VW the last 6 wks plus they already had planned to stop some time ago. I was thinking they might be setting up a Skoda branch in the building they took over next door.

[buzuki]

Yeah skoda is still expanding. This is just the beginning

[K1W1]

It's very easy to get such big percentage increases when you are dealing with such small numbers. A boat load being delayed a week would make the monthly figures swing wildly when you consider that sales figures are based on registrations and virtually all the Skodas coming into the country are pre sold.
Skoda may well have sold 238 cars in total in June but Land Rover a very much niche player sold 261 Discoveries alone. VW sold 3275 Golfs, Holden sold 3387 Cruzes and Mazda sold 4212 3s and Hyundai sold more than twice as many i45's as Skodas total sales in the same period. IMO Skoda are performing rather poorly I would have thought that after 4 years in the market their total sales per month would be in the thousands not the hundreds.

[RSwag]

It's very easy to get such big percentage increases when you are dealing with such small numbers. A boat load being delayed a week would make the monthly figures swing wildly when you consider that sales figures are based on registrations and virtually all the Skodas coming into the country are pre sold.
Skoda may well have sold 238 cars in total in June but Land Rover a very much niche player sold 261 Discoveries alone. VW sold 3275 Golfs, Holden sold 3387 Cruzes and Mazda sold 4212 3s and Hyundai sold more than twice as many i45's as Skodas total sales in the same period. IMO Skoda are performing rather poorly I would have thought that after 4 years in the market their total sales per month would be in the thousands not the hundreds.

You're a hard man to figure out KIWI, one minute you have nothing but contempt for me when I suggest that Skoda HQ are doing a dreadful job in bringing this brand to the fore and now (I think) you concur with this assessment?

As I have said all along this was the hottest brand of 2009/10 and the morons at HQ stuffed it completely, they had the chance to carve out some credibility and recognition with the Octavia but id nothing. Advertising was atrotious and has improved marginally. I don't know about thousands a month but your not to far off, I think we can both agree that a pinnacle of 238 units nationally is nothing to hang their hats on

[dArK5HaD0w]

people r too scared to try something different, no matter how good, or value for money it is.
even if the skoda factory could keep up with the australian demands (tiny compared to the other markets), skoda oz still won't b selling in the thousands.
there is no brand awareness in oz for the skoda range.

i can c 4 general types of people when it comes to skoda in oz:-
1. never heard of "skoda" at all.
2. heard of skoda, but dwelling on past bad rep.
3. heard of skoda, know its potential, but "sheep" instincts kick in - i.e. go with what everyone else is buying....golf, mazda 3, etc etc
4. heard of skoda, know its potential, and buys one.

unfortunately #4 alone aint gone produce "thousands".
to some extent, i don't mind that. i'd rather b a black sheep (that rare sight), than a 'normal' sheep - "friggin ell, there r thousands of them!! everywhere u look there is a golf, or mazda 3, or an i30 or Cruze"

[K1W1]

As I have said all along this was the hottest brand of 2009/10 and the morons at HQ stuffed it completely,

I'm thinking their softly softly approach is been too softly for too long so I'm coming around to your way of thinking. Figures like 238 vehicles a month after four years are appalling imo.

[RSOK]

Agree with Darkshadow, I certainly like being a 'black sheep' and not one of the masses of Cruze/i30/Mazda3/Golf drivers out there, but I can also understand that Matthew Weisner and Co at Skoda HQ would probably prefer to see much higher sales figures after the brand's 4th year here... but as stated above, what can they expect when advertising has been fairly minimal, at least in the first three years?

Keep in mind also the following points:

a) Aussies I think are traditionally conservative car buyers and definitely have that 'follow thy neighbour' attitude, ie if everyone else is buying a Forester/Mazda3/Corolla then that'll do me... so I guess it's no small wonder that Skoda are not selling in the thousands at this point, as the 4th year of sales means Skoda is still a relatively 'young' brand to our market up trying to etch out a place in consumers minds (and shopping lists) against much more established players.

b) Skoda has only so far been able to offer 2 models to the market, Octavia and Superb [forget Roomster], so they have been limited to attracting buyers from only those segments.... I'm sure that much bigger things await the brand with the arrival of Fabia and Yeti which should bring new buyers from different demographics into Skoda showrooms.

[aware]

Long time lurker here - decided to finally sign up today!

I had my first look at a Superb and Octavia a couple of weeks ago at the new Skoda dealership at Pennant Hills - What fantastic cars! Even the base 90TSI was a nice car - why would you buy Corolla, Mazda 3 et al when you can get that for $24,990? I think the biggest issue which has already been raised is that people aren't willing to try anything new, or look at what Skoda used to be, not what it is. I was talking to someone after I'd been to Skoda about them, and I clearly saw what the biggest issue in Australia is - the person I was talking to believed that Skodas are made from left over Audi and VW parts, meaning they'll be full of issues.

I really do hope that Skoda does well in Australia, they deserve to - I've read plenty of good things about them, but had never had the chance to actually go to a dealership until now. I now understand why they get such good write-ups. It's just a pity that they've never caught on in Australia so far- I'd take a Skoda over the equivalent VW any day.

[hmoon101]

Long time lurker there, too.

First of all, excuse me with poor written English and it is not getting any better for me.

I have a MY10 118TSi Octy Wagon and couldn’t be any happier until last month when it got smashed between two cars (which was other parties’ fault).

So, I dropped in my car for the assessment/repair and was told that the front and rear bumper, parking sensors and the bonnet need to be replaced.

That was about a month ago and the repairer is still waiting for the parts to be delivered from Europe.

I am just not sure if this is normal for any European cars or VAG cars but Skoda Aus probably need to put more effort in procuring auto parts or making better image of the brand as people around me, who even seriously considered purchasing a Skoda have all turned their back and bought other brands saying “I told you so.”

Not sure if I made any mistake in choosing a car but I am even thinking about selling this car after I get it back from the repairer, which no one knows when at this stage.

[RSOK]

The thing is Aware, Skoda's aren't made of 'leftover' Audi and VW parts, they're made of the exact same parts that Audi and VW are currently using in their vehicles! It's not like by buying a Skoda you're getting engines and transmissions and radios and stuff from 10 years ago that Audi and VW have moved on from... it's literally current Volkswagen Group parts (although there may be a 1 year delay for example from when VW introduce a new engine to when Skoda picks it up for their vehicles) without the inflated premium you pay for a VW or Audi badge.

Not only does Skoda use the same parts as Audi and VW but reliability surveys from Europe consistently prove that Skoda seem to make their cars better than either of those sister brands, hence why Skoda's are just sensational value!!

[RSOK]

hmoon101 that's very unfortunate that your car has been involved in a smash, hopefully no one was hurt?

One of the joys of buying a European car is that Australia is a long way from Europe and parts may not be in plentiful stock, so this is probably a lesson for anyone considering their first European car.

If you're considering selling your Octavia purely on the basis that your smash reparier is having to wait for replacement bumpers etc to come in, I can sympathise with your frustrations but may I suggest that you've missed the mark in terms of appreciating just how good an Octavia is to own and drive.... worth the wait in my books. That Corolla/i30/Mazda3 loan car you've got in the mean time should only serve to emphasise the point.

[hmoon101]

hmoon101 that's very unfortunate that your car has been involved in a smash, hopefully no one was hurt?

One of the joys of buying a European car is that Australia is a long way from Europe and parts may not be in plentiful stock, so this is probably a lesson for anyone considering their first European car.

If you're considering selling your Octavia purely on the basis that your smash reparier is having to wait for replacement bumpers etc to come in, I can sympathise with your frustrations but may I suggest that you've missed the mark in terms of appreciating just how good an Octavia is to own and drive.... worth the wait in my books. That Corolla/i30/Mazda3 loan car you've got in the mean time should only serve to emphasise the point.

RSOK, thank you for the advices and fortunately no one got hurt, only minor damages to the car.
I understand the true joy of owning an European car as I once had an Alfa but even an Alfa didn’t take that long to get some parts, maybe I was lucky at that time.
I still appreciate how good this car is and cannot see any other cars suit my need better than an Octy, I was just letting out the steam on frustration.
The thing upsetting me the most is, my insurer AAMI wouldn’t let me have a hire car more than 10 days regardless how long the repair is taking and that is why I am left without a car for more than 2 weeks now. Maybe I target my anger to the insurer not the maker of the car.
Anyways, I am sure that I will be more careful in choosing right insurance policy next time and hope I can keep my Octy a bit longer.

[wai]

Unfortunately people tend to revert to what they know, and are not willing to explore something different.

I have a friend who wanted to buy an all wheel drive. He is retired so does not want to have high operating costs. He refused to consider a diesel based on what he knew about diesels. I was trying to get him to look at a Tiguan TDI, but he ended up ordering Subaru Forester petrol, purely because he was not willing to go with a diesel. He saw the specs of the VW diesel and how the torque compared to that of the Forester but it was that leap of faith that he was not willing to take.

Why do people do that? Because if THEY decide to do something different and they have problems because of it, they blame themselves and they do not like doing that. By going with the crowd, they may still have problems, but now it is the manufacturer's fault.

It's like the old saying (not necessarily true now) "No one ever got fired for buying IBM".

With Skoda, most not considering them are only doing so because of what they hear. Hardly any of them would remember the old rear engine swinging half axle cars that had a lot of problems. Look at Land Rover. They are now owned by the Indian company TATA. I doubt if anyone buying a Land Rover would not buy it now that it is owned by TATA.

Perception is everything.

[K1W1]

That was about a month ago and the repairer is still waiting for the parts to be delivered from Europe.

First of all sorry to hear about the damage but the problems that you are experiencing are not limited to either European cars or Skodas. I've seen Japanese cars (think big companies beginning with T or H or N) that have had to wait months for parts to arrive. The lady sitting in the office next to me at the moment had to wait 6 months for a body panel for her just superseded Honda Accord!