Skoda Auto, a subsidiary of Volkswagen Group is gearing to launch an entry level sedan in the domestic market early next fiscal.
With the new sedan in place, coupled with sales of the new Fabia, Laura, Superb and Yeti, the company expects to double sales to 40,000 units next year.
Thomas Kuehl, member of board in charge of sales and marketing, Skoda Auto India, said, "We are developing an entry-level sedan to consolidate our position in the Indian market. We are looking at introducing the car in India in the second half of next year."
To be priced between Rs 6 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, it will compete with Maruti's Swift Dzire, Mahindra Logan and the Indigo Manza.
Skoda launched its sports utility vehicle (SUV), the Yeti today. Priced between Rs 15.40 lakh and Rs 16.63 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), it is available in a two-litre diesel manual transmission configuration. Next year, another two variants with smaller diesel and petrol engines and a version with automatic transmission will hit the Indian market.
Kuehl added, "The pricing for Yeti is competitive. We have already received 1000 bookings for the car in the last six weeks. With Yeti, we intend to capture a 20 per cent share in the SUV market in the country." Skoda aims to sell 400-500 units of Yeti every month.
The company is also working on developing a small car to be positioned below the Fabia. Priced between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakhs, it is expected to be launched in India in 2012. It may be developed with the possible involvement of Suzuki Motor Corporation, in which Volkswagen acquired 19.9 per cent stake earlier this year.
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Kuehl informed, "There could be a possibility that we will take Maruti's input in the small car. The level of involvement is yet to be finalized, but Suzuki's expertise in small cars in India is likely to be taken into consideration for our small car project."