Škoda Bets on Automatics to Drive Brand Differentiation in India

As part of Škoda India’s push to sharpen its differentiation strategy, Brand Director Ashish Gupta is betting big on the growing shift toward automatic transmission.

While the industry average for automatic penetration stands at around 25%, Škoda is already ahead of the curve with nearly 50% of its portfolio sold as automatics, a strength Gupta believes the company can further leverage. “Automatic is a well-established strength for Škoda,” Gupta said.

“And the best way to grow and differentiate is to double down on your strengths. Safety used to be our unique edge, but today it’s a given in any buying decision. We now see automatics as the next frontier and we intend to play a leading role in moving India in that direction. It’s a natural progression of the market,” he said. 

He added that in developed markets, the penetration of automatics is to the range of 95 to 99%. 

“This is something which we want to take as a strong pillar of our ability to influence how India moves and we are in a position to do that with our real automatic, the six-speed automatic torque converter that is available in our cars at very accessible price points. For example, the Kylaq automatic range starts at Rs 10.85 lakhs. Nobody else in that segment offers a real top converter automatic at that price point,” he adds. 

While automatics are often perceived as premium, Gupta says there used to be a lot of myths around automatic. “There are a lot of myths surrounding automatics, fuel economy, and ease of maintenance. I think all those myths are now history.” 

He added, “Automatics offer a lot of convenience. The mileages and the fuel efficiencies are at par with any manual transmissions. So, this is something as a pillar that we want to use to drive our value as a brand.”

He said that even with the same variant of manual versus automatic transmission, there will still be a big price difference. “At this point in the price-sensitive segment, it is price that drives customers. As a brand, we are associated with premiumness. So, I want to use these two combinations and position ourselves as a strong player in automatic,” he said.