Skoda Australia axes Roomster

SKODA Australia has quietly discontinued its love-or-hate Roomster minivan due to slow sales, 18-months after its local relaunch.

The Czech company made no announcement on the decision, but the company this morning announced a range-wide capped-price servicing policy on all models bar the Roomster.

Skoda Australia public relations manager Kurt McGuiness confirmed to GoAuto the reason for this is that: “The Roomster is no longer part of our range." It is unclear exactly when the Roomster was axed, though the final shipment touched down in Australia last year and the final units have already been allocated to dealers. Three examples were registered in January, according to industry stats guide VFACTS.

Skoda reintroduced the facelifted Roomster, which is based on the Fabia but brings its own bizarre styling to the table, in June 2012, about two years after the original was discontinued.

The trimmed-down range came solely with the 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine from the VW Polo and Skoda Fabia, and was priced from a reduced $22,490 plus on-road costs.

Despite offering outstanding practicality – better than many SUVs – and five-star safety, the model never caught on. This is potentially a result of Skoda’s limited network and marketing budget, but also likely a result of its polarising styling.

The company sold just 146 units between its re-introduction in June 2012 and January this year – a figure that represents 0.0 per cent share of the small-car segment.