Bye bye Jetta, hello Sportage, Skoda - fix your Yeti pricing

[Jake02]

If they can't do that they should drop the car completely and concentrate on Octavia and above as "affordable" European quality.

Totally agreed, the Octavia is the very definition of affordable quality. The Fabia's quality isn't anywhere near the Octavia's in my opinion, there's a tiny bit of soft-touch plastic on the dash (ironically, it's one of three - others are the Polo and Kia Rio - superminis that has soft-touch plastics) and the dials are really classy and that's it. The rest of the cabin is black.

I really hope they do drop pricing + add equipment because the Fabia is an honest little car that deserves more than what we and Skoda Australia are throwing at it. It's also a million times nicer than the new Yaris or Barina, both of which sell in much higher numbers unfortunately. Maybe Skoda Aus should've left it until the next generation!

[VAG newbie]

Sorry, but a 5 year warranty, plus changes to Australian consumer law, make buying a Korean car these days a very safe option compared to 10 years ago.

Seriously, if you're looking for a 7 seat SUV, wait a few months for the new Sorrento. The current model is a very good car, no reason the new one shouldn't be even better

All our Korean products were repaired under warranty. For me, the duration of warranty is irrelevant, and it doesn't correlate with reliability, although I agree with you that it will give you a piece of mind.

The other reason that would steer me away from Korean cars is the handling is quite bad. I had a few occasions sitting in Korean cars as rental car, all I can say is they are little horrible things. I've driven Holden Cruze, Epica, Hyundai Elantra and ix20, Kia rondo, although their quality are certainly not as bad as it used to be, the ride and drive are still well below par. But I don't like Toyota either, so I guess it's a subjective thing.

For anyone that is thinking of getting a Fabia or yeti at the moment, my advice is wait. We are all here complaining that Skoda has overpriced these 2 cars. But skoda overpriced Octavia and Superb in the beginning too! After realizing their mistakes, they readjusted the price which made Octavia and Superb real good value for money! Even just comparing Fabia and Octavia, a Octavia 90TSI with DSG was advertised for $24985 drive away in our local dealer while they were doing the 2.8% finance, that is roughly the same driveaway price for the Fabia manual. It didn't make any sense, did it? So if we wait, we'll see Fabia come down to the $16990 mark including alloy wheel and Swing radio, and Yeti 77 TSI at $22990.

[Jake02]

But Skoda overpriced Octavia and Superb in the beginning too! After realizing their mistakes, they readjusted the price which made Octavia and Superb real good value for money! Even just comparing Fabia and Octavia, a Octavia 90TSI with DSG was advertised for $24985 drive away in our local dealer while they were doing the 2.8% finance, that is roughly the same driveaway price for the Fabia manual. It didn't make any sense, did it? So if we wait, we'll see Fabia come down to the $16990 mark including alloy wheel and Swing radio, and Yeti 77 TSI at $22990.

I really hope they do and when they do it'll make me really happy! Those cars deserve nothing more than better pricing (and buyers lol)! But it just annoys me that Skoda Aus priced them there in the first place! And why are VW Aus pricing their cars so closely to Skoda's? That also really annoys me. We have such great value VWs here but not Skodas. And Skodas are meant to be good value, that's why they've sold so well lately worldwide!

[dArK5HaD0w]

u guys do realise that its vw aus that's controlling everything skoda in australia?!?!?!?
- the pricing
- the models
- the specs
- the dealerships
- the services
- the warranty

vwag don't need skoda to "succeed" in the australian market - they have vw & audi. skoda is just the "extras" for their hip pocket.
sadly.....

[RSwag]

But seriously everyone, what can be done?

Very very simple, fish rot from the head down and Skoda is no different. They've had 5 years and has, in my opinion done a very very poor job with what has been some of the greatest economical times we have seen. They have floundered with model designation, options, standard features etc and pricing points. Throw in the dealer network situation and the whole thing becomes the joke they were desperate not to be.

There is no point in discussing what needs to be done, this has been discussed with Wiesner & Co on many occasions and the fact remains they feel they are right and everyone else is wrong. It is also evident they are content with their position in Oz, the fact that dealers have abandoned then in droves and repeat business is almost non existent means nothing to them.

You just have to be content with the fact that VW want to keep Skoda low key and niche, blind Freddy can see that it has the potential to achieve better thing but the Captain is taking orders from the motherland.

As for buying Korean Vwnewbie, are you aware that the head designer for Kia is from Audi and was the man who designed the latest Audi design concepts such as the TT. Maybe you should stop looking at the world like the nuffies at Skoda HQ and realise the playing field has changed massively, I would buy the Rio over the Fabia any day of the week!!!

[VAG newbie]

As for buying Korean Vwnewbie, are you aware that the head designer for Kia is from Audi and was the man who designed the latest Audi design concepts such as the TT. Maybe you should stop looking at the world like the nuffies at Skoda HQ and realise the playing field has changed massively, I would buy the Rio over the Fabia any day of the week!!!

I'm fully aware of that. And I agree Kia cars are some of the sexiest looking cars on the market, compare with Skoda, which has some of the most unsexy car on the market. But does the head designer design the suspension, mechanics......etc, all the internal thing? We can have something that looks really European on the outside, but internally it's still Korean. Korean cares for outward appearance more than anything. Daewoo did that in the late 90's when they had their cars designed in Italy, and I must admit they looked really nice. But it didn't change the fact that they were horrible cars.

Let's put the pricing aside, we have to admit that skoda makes really good cars. They don't have much appearance but internally they are as German as any VAG cars. The stupidity of VWA doesn't change the fact that Skodas are good cars. If Fabia and Rio are priced identically with identical features, and similar dealer network, would you still buy the Rio over Fabia?

I'm also aware the diesel engine used in Santa Fe/Sorrento is designed in Germany and is one of the best 4 cylinder diesel engine around. I'm waiting to see what the new Sorrento will be like. But other than being Korean, the other reason I don like it is they don't offer beige interior.

[BluChris]

In the end I think we are all pretty much in agreement in many ways. The Koreans initially did well based purely on price not on product, and we are starting to see the Chinese do the same thing with Great Wall Utes and SUV selling relatively well. The Koreans are undoubtedly improving, and are starting to slowly up their prices to match. They aren't up with the best across the board, but show signs of getting there with some very good individual models.

Skoda did a similar thing overseas, coming off a base of very cheap but not very good communist era cars that sold at the bottom of the market. They had a market presence (with a very poor name), but built off it with increasingly good product sold relatively cheap. This has brought them a great deal of success, as savvy buyers realised they were getting a better VW for less. It's why in some countries you see tons of Octavia diesel taxis for example.

This has never happened here, with the downright weird pricing and market positioning VWA has pursued. While I agree the Octavia 90 TSI is cheap for a mid size, it is smaller than most (which I actually prefer) and a case could be made to position it against base model Cruze et al with a similar entry price. That's the sort of thing that would start to get people's attention - 'You mean I can have a quality Euro for the price of a Cruze? Hmmm...' Not going to happen any time soon methinks, given they would struggle with a real demand increase and don't want to cannibalise Golf sales either.

[RSwag]

This is the issue they have had all along, most people just find Skoda a strange concept because of the way they have gone about bringing themselves into a new market. They had a blank canvas to define themselves as something unique, to let people find out about the VW connection in time but highlight what a clear and bankable attributes. They decided to run with "VW Technology' on the initial brand launch and haven't steered away from this since.

Pricing is a massive issue but even if they did price the Octavia up against the Cruze i highly doubt it would have such a dramatic effect for a sustained period as no one really knows what an Octavia is as a general rule and even if they did they do not associate it with anything other than the other car VW makes thats ugly.

What i am trying to say is they have more systemic issues that will continue to plague the brand for years to come that are greater than just price alone.

[Transporter]

I think that they're doing well and who knows, maybe 10 years from now they will have a reputation for the reliability and be known for that, rather than for that they were cheaper than the brand "B".

[RSwag]

Yeah i can't fault that Skoda make very very good cars, its just that they have squandered the opportunity they have had in the last 5 years to show that to this audience. They have also found themselves in the terrible position of trying to move into a japanese/korean market with a euro price point, at a time when the korean/japanese equivalent is as good or better than what they are offering.

Head office Skoda just seem to be on another planet where they feel they are a gold mine just waiting to be discovered, people aren't going to look at products that are to hard. Why would i spend hours researching an unknown product when Kia is familiar to me and they have already told me what their about on my TV every night.

As a consumer i would also be put off by the great write ups that invariably end with "but resale is an unknown, dealer networks, and the blurb on its joke history'. Hear that enough times with Skoda and nothing when looking at the Korean/Jap corners and i knwo which direction i would head in before even going to a showroom.

[BluChris]

Yep, that's why I wonder how the lessons they learned in England have been ignored. They turned around the brand through good product, aggressive pricing, strong dealer network with generally good servicing and parts prices. Not rocket science.

I know they apparently don't want to be in a high volume market position in Australia, but at the moment it's hard to see what the point of being in Australia is at all. VW is a strong brand now, and I'm sure they could as easily spend the $ to expand VW sales to match the number of Skodas they sell.

The reason I mentioned Cruze etc was that's kind of where they went overseas - metal and value for money. You'd never get Cruze volumes, but with the right marketing you'd get a considerable number of people who appreciate the versatility and quality feel. Just look at the comments on this forum from people who have rented cars in that class, biased or not

Transporter I hope you're right, and I suspect this will be the case amongst enthusiasts. Just not sure about the general public

[Transporter]

In mid 80's Korean cars were unknown and people felt the same way you do now. Their quality was nowhere near to Skoda's. Even today, if you would compare the build quality of the KIA you couldn't say they're the same quality as European cars.

But hey today’s Kia is still better than Cherry, which I had opportunity to service on the weekend. It deeply reminded me first Hyundai and KIA cars. I took some photos of the body and engine cross member that were very badly welded together, I'd like to believe that this car somehow made its way through the quality control in manufacturing plant. Certainly not worth almost $11,000 . Now, I'm not sure that Skoda wants their Fabia and Yeti to compete against cars like Cherry or even compete in the same category. I'm also surprised that they don't put Cherry build quality into the spotlights.

[brad]

As a consumer i would also be put off by the great write ups that invariably end with "but resale is an unknown, dealer networks, and the blurb on its joke history'. Hear that enough times with Skoda and nothing when looking at the Korean/Jap corners and i knwo which direction i would head in before even going to a showroom.

You forgot "higher maintenance costs than Japanese cars". That seems to be the favourite lately.

Slightly off topic but speaking of resale values, a mate just bought an 11 month old Lotus Evora from a dealership. 50% cheaper than RRP after 11months. Ouch!

I think this will be my last Skoda. The dealership situation doesn't work for me.

I was very keen on the hyundai i30 diesel when car shopping in 2008 but the attitude of all 3 dealers that I visited turned me off, otherwise I'd have jumped straight into the hyundai diesel.

If I had to go shopping next week, I'd probably have a good look at a Hyundai Veloster & some of their other models; various Kias; the Honda Accord Euro; Citroen C5 and 2nd hand Renault RS250 to name a few. Skoda isn't even on the radar.

[Brycem]

I had a Hyundai i30 diesel wagon for 20 months from sept 09. It was an ok car. Perceived built quality was miles short of the octavia. The interior was riddled with scratchy black plastic and the carpets were very poor quality. The steering feel was very artificial and handling distinctly average. The ride was crashy. Oh and the engine had a terrible flat spot in third gear onwards from beneath 1900 revs. All in all nowhere near the Germans.

It was back to the dealer for a loose steering yoke; faulty stereo and split rubber door seals.

[VAG newbie]

You forgot "higher maintenance costs than Japanese cars". That seems to be the favourite lately.

Slightly off topic but speaking of resale values, a mate just bought an 11 month old Lotus Evora from a dealership. 50% cheaper than RRP after 11months. Ouch!

I think this will be my last Skoda. The dealership situation doesn't work for me.

I was very keen on the hyundai i30 diesel when car shopping in 2008 but the attitude of all 3 dealers that I visited turned me off, otherwise I'd have jumped straight into the hyundai diesel.

If I had to go shopping next week, I'd probably have a good look at a Hyundai Veloster & some of their other models; various Kias; the Honda Accord Euro; Citroen C5 and 2nd hand Renault RS250 to name a few. Skoda isn't even on the radar.

Service cost for Honda, Citroen and Renault will be as expensive, if not more, as the Skoda.

It is sad to see many unhappy Skoda owners. Perhaps bradm you can share with us your unhappy story that steer you away from ever owning a Skoda again. I am certainly very happy with my dealer and my car, I will certainly consider owning another one.

I think many of us are unhappy that Koreans with such an inferior product can do so well, why can't Skoda? But let's not forget that Australia is a major market for Koreans and they probably pump a significant percentage of their cars to Australia. Whereas Skoda, being from a country 1/5 of the Korean population, who has their primary market in Europe (excluding China, India and Russia as they have local productions), they can't afford to have a huge success here in Australia. I believe this is why Skoda has not entered into the 2 largest automotive market in the world yet, the USA and Japan. Because they simply can't keep up! So perhaps they intentionally try to make it a niche market here in Australia.

If they have a real success here, then Skoda may have to source the car from China or India to make price competitive to the Koreans. By then we would whinge again.

---------- Post added at 01:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:16 PM ----------

I had a Hyundai i30 diesel wagon for 20 months from sept 09. It was an ok car. Perceived built quality was miles short of the octavia. The interior was riddled with scratchy black plastic and the carpets were very poor quality. The steering feel was very artificial and handling distinctly average. The ride was crashy. Oh and the engine had a terrible flat spot in third gear onwards from beneath 1900 revs. All in all nowhere near the Germans.

It was back to the dealer for a loose steering yoke; faulty stereo and split rubber door seals.

That's what I am talking about. +2