Skoda is developing six new products for India and one of them will be the replacement for ageing Rapid as the launch might take place in 2022
Volkswagen Group officially announced in July that the company will invest Rs. 7,900 crore in India and Skoda will lead the project. The volume models of both Skoda and VW are outdated compared to the competition as their newer products are based on advanced MQB platform, which is expensive to manufacture in India.
The turnaround project of VW group is named as India 2.0 and the company is planning to introduce six new products in India which will be based on new MQB-A0 IN platform. The first product based on this new platform will be a compact SUV and it is expected to see light in 2020. Then the second product will be the Indian version of Volkswagen T-Cross compact SUV.
The VW group is also planning to introduce two new sedans and it will be the replacement models for ageing Skoda Rapid and Volkswagen Vento. Earlier C-Segment sales were not good as customers were inclined towards compact SUV but the recent launches like the new generation of Verna and Ciaz have helped sales to improve.
We can expect the design of new Rapid to take inspirations from other global models and it might be introduced in 2022 only as the initial focus is on volume models. The company might be developing a new generation of diesel and petrol engines for the compact SUV, which will be shared with the sedans also.
Some reports have indicated that the company might introduce 1.3 L and 1.5 L turbocharged petrol engines along with a new 1.6 L diesel engine. The transmission options include both manual and automatic as the latter is more popular these days. The excellent ride and handling package of the current model will be retained.
The quality of materials used in the cabin will be top notch and the design will be simple like current generation products. The interior will be packed with lots of new features and the company might introduce some advanced radar-based safety systems also to meet new safety rules. The pricing will be on the aggressive side as the company is aiming for 95 per cent localization with new products.