European manufacturers on the whole haven't done 1500km checks for years. The Japanese seem to still be persisting with them I think because they still use mineral oils in the engines from the factory.

What is the initialisation issue with the SD card?

As far as the subject of the post is concerned I wouldn't be worried at all. Skoda is VW and VW ain't going nowhere. They have a long term attitude to things and they spent the best part of 10 years building VW in Australia from the gutter after they took over from Inchcape in the 1990's so there is no reason to assume that Skoda will be a short term exercise for them. There will be a few dealers come and go until things settle down but look at all the Toyota or Mazda or Ford dealers who have been and gone over the years. Could anybody in melbourne in the 1980's ever have conceived of Melfords AND Stillwell Ford no longer being in business today or of Rex Hunt Holden disappearing?

From a resale point of view inexpensive cars tend to hold their value in percentage terms a little better than expensive cars so and second hand cars these days are sold on their condition rather than their brand so i wouldn't be worried from that point of view either if you intend to keep your car in good condition with moderate mileage.