Biggest year yet for new and updated Skodas
BY MATT CAMPBELL | 2nd Apr 2024
SKODA Australia is gearing up for its biggest new product roll-out year yet, with an unprecedented number of updated and new-generation vehicles to launch in 2024 – although their effect on sales figures will be mostly felt in 2025.
The Czech brand will finally join the battery electric vehicle (BEV) race with the new Enyaq and Enyaq RS models in October 2024, though the company has not yet confirmed pricing and specifications for models that will, in theory, line up against the Tesla Model Y, which spans $65,400 to $91,400 before on-road costs and incentives.
Beyond that, the company is looking to launch a new entry-grade version of the Fabia city car, the facelifted Scala hatchback, revised Kamiq small SUV, the facelifted midsize Octavia liftback and wagon, and the second-generation Kodiaq seven-seat SUV.
At a recent media briefing in Sydney, Skoda Australia managing director Michael Irmer said the brand is gearing up for a significant second half of 2024, following a couple of years of global setbacks.
“Obviously in 2021, the disruptions happened. Supply and the semiconductors, we then had to switch and pivot to vehicles with certain despecification,” explained Mr Irmer.
“Then we saw these massive cost inflations going through, and rippling through the whole industry, the energy prices, then the war in Europe started, and that drove our price levels up. And that basically has led many manufacturers to increase prices because the costs were starting to spiral out of control, and we are no different there, either.
“I think we’re now coming out of this phase of total distortion in the marketplace, and in the meantime the market has also changed quite a bit.”
Mr Irmer said the company’s plans for 2024 are extensive, but he also forewarned of what could be a relatively lean year in terms of sales figures due to the timings of most of the launches.
“It's towards the tail-end, mostly,” he said. “So you won’t see this affecting sales until next year for those cars.
¨And the first facelift will come mid-year, but a facelift is not the same as a full-new car. The new cars are the ones in quarter four,” he said.
Full details for the price-sensitive EV models, not to mention what adjustments will be made to the other facelifted vehicles coming to market, will be disclosed in due course.
Skoda’s sales for the first two months of 2024 have dipped by more than 23 per cent compared 2023’s numbers, as existing supply of some of the vehicles about to be updated peters out.
What’s coming from Skoda in 2024:
|
Entry-level Karoq |
March |
|
Octavia Sportline |
March |
|
Kamiq Run-Out |
March (until around June) |
|
Kodiaq SportLine Run-Out |
April |
|
Kamiq facelift |
June |
|
Fabia entry-grade |
July |
|
Scala facelift |
July |
|
Enyaq coupe SUV |
October |
|
Enyaq RS coupe SUV |
October |
|
Octavia facelift |
November |
|
Kodiaq new-gen |
November |
