Live bsense Live Volume Todays L/H PlusSix out of eight SUVs in which the Skoda Kushaq new Skoda Kushaq is placed offer a diesel engine as a choice to the petrol. This mid-size SUV segment is priced between Rs 10-175,000 and has a diesel share between 40-40 percent.Skoda's parent Volkswagen doesn't like diesel engines, even though one of the two SUVs is powered by a diesel engine. Skodas' marketing team is tasked with convincing customers to choose petrol. The Kushaq will be launched with two petrol engines, but no diesel.Zac Hollis (brand director at Skoda India), stated that in 2023, we will have new emission standards which will require us even more investment, which will make diesel cars even more expensive. We will not be losing out due to a shortage of diesel engine options, I believe.The introduction of real driving emissions (RDE), is planned for 2023. However, the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), norms that will be implemented in 2022, is expected to precede it. Both norms are intended to reduce emissions and keep them under control.This is the best indicator of current demand trends. The Superb and Rapid are now selling more petrol-to-air TSIs than the combined petrol and diesel. We have dealt with dealers before who requested diesel from us because they were in a diesel-dominated industry. Now he wants more petrol models. Hollis said that we are trying to convert diesel customers to petrol.Volkswagen and Renault, two of the world's largest automakers, believe that even though the new generation of diesel engines can meet 2020 BS-VI emission standards, the cost increase to meet 2023 norms will make diesel options prohibitively expensive. For the moment, Hyundai, Tata Motors and MG offer both petrol and diesel engines.With the Creta or Seltos, the Korean companies Hyundai and Kia dominate the mid-size SUV market. According to Hyundai India officials, approximately 45 percent of the new Hyundai Alcazar bookings are for diesel engines.The Kushaq, priced between Rs 10.49 lakh and Rs 17.59 lakh, should help revive Skodas fortunes here in India. This year, the European car brand hopes that the Kushaq will be sold at least 24,000 units.Our goal for the Kushaq is to sell between 3,000 and 4,000 units per month. Hollis said that this target is reasonable for a premium mid-size SUV such as ours. These numbers give Skoda 10% market share in the mid-size SUV segment, which is currently dominated by Hyundai.
