Skoda Withdraws the New Kodiaq SUV from China Due to Poor Sales: Future of Brand in Chinese Market Uncertain

Skoda launched the new generation Kodiaq SUV, but right at the launch the brand’s CEO announced that it will no longer be sold in the world’s largest car market, China, due to the poor results of the previous generation. The brand may withdraw from China in the coming period.

Klaus Zellmer announced that the new Kodiaq, newly launched on the market in a new generation, will no longer be sold in China. He said the future of the brand in the Chinese market was to be decided “together with our local partner”.

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Previously, unofficial information indicated that the Czech brand is to leave China, due to weak sales and increasingly strong competition in this market created by local brands.

China was for a short time Skoda’s biggest market, but the rapid development of local brands created big problems for the Czechs, who then faced systematic sales declines, which this year reached 50% below the level of 2022 for all models sold in the local market.

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Instead of China, Skoda plans to grow in the Indian market, considered to be one with major potential. Here, the Czech company was given a coordinating role by the VW Group to develop models for the local market, produced in local plants, with a highly localized supplier network. Last year, Skoda’s growth in India was 125%, with the help of the new Kushaq model and the Slavia sedan.

Globally, Skoda’s sales increased in the first half of 2023 by 20% to a volume of 432,200 units, after a 16.7% decline in sales in 2022, with a total volume of 731,300 units sold. Skoda is far from its 2018 sales peak of 1.24 million units. In that year, Skoda sold 341,000 cars in China, seven times the volume in 2022 (44,600 units).

2023-10-12 18:59:46
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