Skoda the next Toyota

[phaeton]

Don't laugh VW is seriously considering letting Skoda become the volume brand within the VW Group.

and it beats Toyota in the elusive sales margins

Skoda going Global - Business Week

[CORDY_SXE]

Well lets just hope they don't start designing "white goods" like Toyota does as well!!

[Lukev85]

Dont mind toyota, but id definatly like to see Skoda take the lead

[CO2]

Don't laugh VW is seriously considering letting Skoda become the volume brand within the VW Group.

and it beats Toyota in the elusive sales margins

Skoda going Global - Business Week

VW / Skoda might be "dreaming" of displacing Toyota as the planet's ubiquitous volume car brand of choice, but they certainly don't (so far) seem to understand that the volume car buyers, "vote primarily", with the (available) contents of their back pockets. TATA are selling their "volume cars" for $3000 and the Chinese are yet to impact the market. Interesting times ahead...!

[mazstar]

Before they even hope to compete with Toyota they will need to ensure their cars are as or more reliable and well built as Toyota/Subaru/Honda or increasingly Hyundai is becoming.

Toyota has let the ball down recently but compared to the Euros/Yanks they still are perceived and probably rightly so to last longer and give more ears of trouble free motoring albeit without the flair or design of the Euros.

[aliasmk2]

I reckon they probably could make number 1 manufacturer, but they need to lower the price of the Skoda's to give them an edge into the market, in Australia anyway.
If they don't consider dropping the price to compete with that asian cars, Skoda could suffer the same fate as Seat. They were released here around the same time as Hyundi started selling cars for $9999.
So why would you buyy a car with no brand name like a Cordoba for about $15-7k, when you can get a Exel for $9999?

Elementry!!!!!

Even the CEO of holden says the reason that the commonwhore is the number 1 seller is because they are cheap & not a quality product.

[gregozedobe]

Many (most ?) Toyota buyers choose that brand because of :

1 Reputation for reliability (including been around in Oz for a long time)

2 Price

3 A "safe" buying choice

4 Large dealer network


In Australia at least, Skoda doesn't have any of these going for it (except for a small number of enthusiasts, us ) Changing the attitude of large numbers of the non-enthusiast car-buying public towards Skoda will take a lot more work than what VWA is currently doing.

[vinderliker]

Toyota = cardigans. Sorry, but I just do not understand how Toyota can sell cars under the banner of Sportivo, sport etc and get away with it. At least Skoda has the vRS and it is a "sport" vehicle. With all of their rally, F1, Nascar etc experience they should be able to build and sell proper sports cars not pretend ones!

[Jarred]

Many (most ?) Toyota buyers choose that brand because of :

1 Reputation for reliability (including been around in Oz for a long time)

2 Price

3 A "safe" buying choice

4 Large dealer network

Very true. Toyota is on top of the table for good reason. Years and years of building good, reliable, comfy, get's the driving from A to B cars is shown in their world wide domination of the car market. Sure they mightn't be sporty and what not, but they are safe and reliable, and at the right price. People trust Toyota. It's harder for them to trust a name they don't know, like Skoda. No one in Australia knows Skoda really. (besides for a few motorheads etc)

Sure they are VW's underneath, which means they should carry VW's reputation for reliablility, which is key in becoming a global seller. Price is the other deciding factor. It's true, huyandi's are becoming better cars. If people want a small A to B car, thats cheap reliable and safe, they do actually have an option with the Getz and Swift, and they sure are cheaper than the Yaris and andy skoda by a longshot.

Give it time, and we'll see...