Investment

Skoda lifts expectation on full-year sales

By Gong Zhengzheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-09-20 07:46

BEIJING - Buoyed by strong performance in the first eight months and growing demand from Chinese buyers, Volkswagen Group's Czech brand Skoda is aiming at 60 percent sales growth this year.

Peter Miling, Skoda sales chief at Sino-German joint venture Shanghai Volkswagen Automobile Co, told China Daily last week during the Chengdu auto show that the brand expects to move about 200,000 cars in China this year, up from 123,000 units in 2009.

Skoda's sales in China surged by more than 70 percent in the first eight months of this year to 140,000 units, Miling said.

The brand's share of China's passenger vehicle market rose to 1.63 percent by the end of August, up from1.49 percent last year, he said.

He said China is now Skoda's biggest single market in the world.

Miling predicted that China's overall passenger vehicle market will grow by 30 percent to as many as 11 million cars sold this year.

On Friday Skoda launched its compact Octavia RS at the Chengdu auto show. The sporty model is equipped with a 2.0-liter TSI engine and a DSG gearbox.

"The Octavia RS will not be a major (sales) volume driver, but it will give the Skoda brand more emotion," he said.

Skoda kicked off production at Shanghai Volkswagen in 2007 with the Octavia Mingrui as its first localized model.

The brand also now produces the compact Fabia and mid-sized Superb at Shanghai Volkswagen.

"We will bring more products to China to enter more segments. The SUV market will have a great future. Definitely, Skoda will be in this segment," he said when asked whether the brand will produce its Yeti SUV in China.

From 2007 to 2009, Skoda's China sales doubled every year.

"Our future growth will come down to normal level from doubling over the past three years. But we will continue to grow faster than the overall market," Miling said.

Overall vehicle sales in China jumped by 39.2 percent to 11.58 million units in the first eight months of this year from a year ago, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

The association recently forecast that full-year sales would hit 17 million vehicles, up from 14.7 million units in 2009.

China Daily