Skoda Global Sales Surge

[Inego]

Alpha Romeo...

Alfa please, which again doesn't really know where to pitch itself in the marketplace.....

[brad]

Personally, I can't see why anyone would cross shop a Honda Jazz against a Fabia but I haven't seen a Fabia in the flesh to gauge the true size. Also, you are talking RRP whereas I've found Skoda willing to deal & Honda less so.

As for Camry/Aurion/Seppo Accord against Superb...... I dunno, none of the former float my boat at all. I wouldn't even bother to test drive them.

[VAG newbie]

Personally, I can't see why anyone would cross shop a Honda Jazz against a Fabia but I haven't seen a Fabia in the flesh to gauge the true size. Also, you are talking RRP whereas I've found Skoda willing to deal & Honda less so.

Well, just based on a few previous comments, someone is expecting Skoda to sell thousands per month, and a few comparison between the Octavia with Corolla/Mazda3/Cruze, and hopes were put on the Fabia as it comes. In that case, we have to expect Fabia to compete with Japanese/Korean minis such as Honda Jazz/Toyota Yaris/Nissan Micra/Hyundai i20/Holden Barina....etc. With the RRP, I think it is gonna be tough, as most average Joes and Janets in this price bracket won't care about how a car handles and performs. They just need a car that will take them from A to B.

In my experience, Skodas are not that easy to negotiate, especially if the car has to be to order from Czech factory. It will depend on how many Skoda Aus are willing to keep in the stock yard. I suspect there won't be many as the demand for the 1.2TS is huge world wide. We would be lucky to get assigned 50 in the first shipment.

As for Camry/Aurion/Seppo Accord against Superb...... I dunno, none of the former float my boat at all. I wouldn't even bother to test drive them.

Superb is a very special car that it kind of fits into many market segment, bit you can also say it doesn't fit into any. Mechanically, it should be a medium car as it shares components with Passat and A4. Therefore compete with Passat/Mondeo/Liberty, and to a lesser extend, Camry and Accord.

But it is also a family car because of its size, that competes with Commodore/Falcon/Aurion. The pricing of the Ambition is in direct competition with these big Aussie V6's. The Combi just directly competes with the Commodore sports Wagon.

But according to Top Gear in UK, it is considered a "luxury" car that competes with Rolls Royce (and have beaten it and won the best luxury car award!)! Also many UK reviews have compared it to Mercedes C or even E class! I know it is quite popular as company VIP transports in some countries, as it has the feeling, comfort and quality of an E-class, and the room of an S-class, but a running cost of just...uh, maybe a Golf! I also heard from an unconfirmed rumor that is it also used as the presidential car in Czech Republic!

Personally, I'd like to see it as a luxury car. I took my parents for the test drive, they were really surprised that it's ORC starts <$50,000 (the elegance trim we are talking about) and afterward when they compare with my current Accord Euro luxury, they commented the quality of the Euro is no where near the Superb!! That stirred their interest on the Skoda! And my parents have owned a couple of luxury cars themselves, including a Lexus and a BMW 740iL, so they know what they are talking about.