Vishal Bhat to head sales at Skoda Auto India

Vishal Bhat, the former head of aftersales business and service at Volkswagen India and Skoda India, has taken charge of sales for the Skoda brand.

Sources say that Bhat, who has been with the Group for almost one and a half decades, will oversee the critical sales function ahead of Skoda’s much-awaited sub-4-meter SUV launch in early 2025.

In the last 36 to 48 months, the Czech car brand has seen three different brand directors, sales heads, and marketing heads.

Skoda has been without a head of sales and marketing since April 2024.

A VW Group veteran, Bhat will seek to accelerate the Skoda brand's volume to the next level. The brand has witnessed its monthly sales decrease to under 3000 units, translating to  annual sales of about 36,000 units.

With the addition of the new small SUV, Skoda hopes to more than double its annual sales to 1 lakh units annually by 2026. The brand is currently expanding its network footprint.

Bhat will be responsible for managing the falling volumes and expanding its footprint.

An email sent to Skoda Auto India did not elicit any response until publishing.

Skoda Auto India ended FY24 with a total sale of 44,000 units with a market share of 1%.

The Czech car maker has been relying on CBU and parts and component models to keep the excitement built around the brands.

Bhat was promoted in 2023 to oversee the aftersales business and services for both Volkswagen and Skoda, retaking his previous responsibility of just the Volkswagen brand's after sales and service.

Over the past two decades, Bhat has spent most of his career in the after sales and service departments. Before joining VW Group, he worked for Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp. He is a mechanical engineer from the University of Mumbai, with a management degree in marketing and sales from Naree Monjee.