Where are the sales figures?

[K1W1]

Skoda sales figures used to be posted regularly but I see that the latest figures haven't be put on display yet. Is there a reason?

[VAG newbie]

Someone in Yeti's section has already mentioned the Feb figure. 324! Although better than Jan, certainly way worse than what it was at end of 2011. Now that Yeti and Fabia are both offering ORC free, and the other day I saw on newspaper that they are doing 103TDI 4x4 Elegance wagon for $49990 driveaway, this should push the figure up. But it will only hurt the resale value of current cars!

[K1W1]

Someone in Yeti's section has already mentioned the Feb figure. 324!

324 for the Yeti I guess would be okay but I hope that's not 324 for the whole brand. The Skoda website lists 38 national dealers so 324 would mean 2 cars registered per dealer per week. Even if half the listed dealers are only service agents that still means not enough sales per dealership to employ a single sales person let alone a whole dealership infrastructure.

[Transporter]

324 for the Yeti I guess would be okay but I hope that's not 324 for the whole brand. The Skoda website lists 38 national dealers so 324 would mean 2 cars registered per dealer per week. Even if half the listed dealers are only service agents that still means not enough sales per dealership to employ a single sales person let alone a whole dealership infrastructure.

I think that Skoda is doing just fine. You worry about nothing.

[K1W1]

Yes I guess you are correct after all this time two years ago they sold 88 vehicles in the month and since then they have dropped the Roomster, added the Superb wagon, the Fabia and the Yeti, spent a large amount on advertising, sponsored the countries premier cycle race twice, spent nearly 18 months branding with the Greater Western Sydney football team and considerably added to the dealer network for a net increase of 236 vehicles per month. I wonder how much each sale has actually cost Skoda?

[Transporter]

I wonder how much each sale has actually cost Skoda?

Approximitely the same as some other car companies.

[RSwag]

Yes I guess you are correct after all this time two years ago they sold 88 vehicles in the month and since then they have dropped the Roomster, added the Superb wagon, the Fabia and the Yeti, spent a large amount on advertising, sponsored the countries premier cycle race twice, spent nearly 18 months branding with the Greater Western Sydney football team and considerably added to the dealer network for a net increase of 236 vehicles per month. I wonder how much each sale has actually cost Skoda?

Very valid points, and I have no idea what denial juice some Skoda advocates suck on before replying to what is a sound, logical and legitimate arguements as to why such numbers are considered acceptable.

I think about other brands such as great wall who came in with a simple message. They focused on the fact they were cheap and advertised purely on price, they researched the market and brought their utility first at a price and with a complete line up. Needless to say in sales figures they ave left Skoda for dead.

I can hear all the tunnel visioned keyboard warriors yelling at their screens "yeah but their different, it's a completely different market in commercial". This much is true but is the approach really that much different? When the Octavia was introduced to the Australian audience it was just placed down in front of everyone as "there you go, that's a Skoda" without any real self promotion other than, it's it VW technology. The audience for mid sized wagons is primarily young mothers with first child, poss second, this demographic is sound in what it wants in a car like this.

First priority is safety, they will then look for storage/cabin space and ease of use of this space, pricing aginst competitors/value for money, then the fuel/running costs and then it will trickle down to less important things like branding.

As I said in a post in 2010, the 1.8tsi wagon was cheaper than the Mazda 6 classic wagon (petrol), was nearly 30% more fuel efficient, more standard features and it had a larger boot. It was also smaller in length so the primarily female audience would be drawn to a vehicle that ticked all the boxes and would be intrigued enough to out their bums behind the wheel. We all now that at the time if anyone had driven the Octavia back to back with the Mazda 6 and compared the above (or hopefully had a sales person point them out) it was a no brainer, the drive and interior quality were far superior.

The only thing they didn't square away which was a reasonable negative was the 4 star rating. This has been and always will be a huge hindrance in moving the Octavia into the fore. All the money they pissed up on the wall with the cycling and yet they didn't see it prudent to give 2 cars to ancap for them to crash test to get they 5 star they knew they would recieve.

Anyway the point of my dribble is that Skoda will never progress unless they focus on the intended audience and start selling their unique features to this demographic. 6 weeks ago I was visiting a friend at a house party, one of the girls was saying that her dad just brought this nice car, "it's a Skoda wagon thing, it's really big in the back, it's like a limo". We all know it's a Superb, she had been in it and had no idea, I piped up and went "oh yeah that's the Superb" she threw back "uuuum yeah, I think so".

Almost everyone else was bewildered, i think they thought we were speaking a foreign language. I faded into the back ground when the inevitable banter came up of "what's that, sounds like a disease hahaha". These aren't bogans their all professionals, late 20's very early 30's and their oblivious to th brand. We all know this is not an isolated incident, yet at the same party if I had said that I purchased a Great Wall ute they would all know it, they may not agree I made the right choice but they would be knowledgable enough to know what the brand is.

After 5 years in the market I can't believe that 300 odd units s anywhere acceptable for anyone else oter than Skoda.

[Mysticality]

Today, I helped a mate of mine buy a $1,000 commercial lawn mower.
When taking it out to the car, the guy behind the counter asked me "Is that your blue Mazda?", pointing at the only blue car in sight.




EDIT: The Mahinda Pik-Up looks like a good ute. Now I have the Octy, I'm looking for a dedicated 4WD.
2nd EDIT: Damnit. Why do I always look at vehicles nobodies ever heard of. :S

[K1W1]

EDIT: The Mahinda Pik-Up looks like a good ute. Now I have the Octy, I'm looking for a dedicated 4WD.
2nd EDIT: Damnit. Why do I always look at vehicles nobodies ever heard of. :S

Wrong on the nobody ever heard of.
They used to sell Mahinda Jeeps in NZ in the early 1970's. They were probably the most awful vehicle from a construction point of view I have ever seen and their reliability was worse. I assume that the build and reliability has improved but they are forever tarnished in my mind.

---------- Post added at 10:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:31 PM ----------

After 5 years in the market I can't believe that 300 odd units s anywhere acceptable for anyone else oter than Skoda.

Thank you.
I know that the fan boys take my posts on the subject as being negative but that is far from the truth. I really like Skoda as a brand and know that it deserves to succeed in this market but the reality is that they are only just treading water compared to the competition and at the moment based on the real sales they are probably at the stage of swallowing an awful lot. Fans will point to VW's deep pockets and to the fabled European long term planning both of which are true but at the end of the day the ONLY measure of longevity and success in the auto industry is registered vehicles on the road and to that end Skoda Australia have done an appallingly bad job and deserve a right royal kick up the backside. As I said in an earlier post in this thread for sales to be averaging a handful per dealer per week on average after 5 years in the market and the generally positive response they have had from the motoring press is woeful. In the last 30 months months three supposedly killer class leading vehicles have been introduced and yet not one of them has been able to be sold in any great numbers. That alone points to a failure somewhere.

[bluefrog]

the guy behind the counter asked me "Is that your blue Mazda?", pointing at the only blue car in sight.

did you punch him?


seriously, I am seeing more and more shhkodas on our roads daily .. the trend will continue. Like the ad used to say: "It won't heppen overnight, but it will heppen."