Hindustan Times
Can the Rapid do for Skoda, what Fabia and Yeti could’nt?
Exactly a decade ago in November 2001, Skoda, the only company that makes cars in Czech republic became the first European carmaker to enter India. Ten years hence, the company launched its entry level sedan Rapid that in a way replaces the now discontinued Octavia, the model that launched the brand in India.
A lot has changed in these 10 years and few of them have been to the advantage of the Czech firm. When the Octavia was launched, it was a breath of fresh air for a market that was starving for choices. Today its the exact opposite. Skoda is no longer an exotic brand and it merits and follies are all known. The Rapid comes in a segment that has seen the maximum launches in the last 18 months, right from the Volkswagen Vento, the Fluidic Verna to the Nissan Sunny.
The bigger question however is whether Rapid can do what the Fabia and Yeti could not….vault Skoda to the league of real fighters in India? We are tempted to say yes, but there are a few hurdles that seem insurmountable.
What’s new?
For all the rooftop shouting of India this being the first market that gets the Rapid, there is little by way of novelty in the car. Based on the Vento platform, it feels and even looks like the VW car. Leave aside the tradenark Skoda grille and headlamps, and what you get is a slightly lower priced Vento.
While that itself is not a very bad thing and increasingly carmakers worldwide are adopting this strategy, the lack of novelty does irk a little bit.
Price
At Rs 6.75 lakh ex showroom Delhi for the base petrol variant and Rs 7.95 lakk for the base diesel variant, I felt that the car is priced on the higher side by atleast Rs 50,000. When we first had a look of the car as a concept in September at Frankfurt, we held the opinion that this car should be available for under Rs 7 lakh on road.
With a price like this, Skoda has again repeated the mistake it committed with the Fabia and Yeti. There are not too many petrol car buyers in this segment anymore but whatever market there is, would drift towards the Nissan Sunny. The latter is Rs 1 lakh cheaper and though it is not as premium as a Skoda, it has more space and provides a good bang for the buck.
In the diesel space, the undisputed leader right now is the hyundai Verna. The Korean car bamboozled everybody by the endless list of features. The Rapid has some glaring loopholes here and does not have parking sensors or steeing mounted controls even on top end variants.
Volkswagen’s shadow
Skoda was a much more potent competitor in India so long as parent firm Volkswagen was not present. Being the only European carmaker and the face of a world’s thirs largest automotive group helped the company maintain its headstart by way of products.
But with VW around, that edge is missing. As the R&D and product development of the firms are alligned, it is a no brainer that VW will get a first shot at all exciting products in India. And as is evident with the Rapid, Skoda would also not have the freedom to undertake remedial measures in the event of a failure from Vento. A much better strategy would have been for VW group to sit together and decide to thwart Verna, that came in after the Vento, with the Rapid.
The car could have been given more features and a more aggressive price to anable VW regain the upperhand against Hyundai. Unfortunately, strategy is something that VW does not believe in, in India.
As Skoda’s own sales expectations from the Rapid (2,000 a month) suggests, they themselves know they cannot compete with the Verna for now. They can only hope it fares better than their previous two duds.
(15 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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“The USAID-Monsanto partnership is blatant exploitation of a corrupt an unstable government in Nepal…Monsanto’s presence in Nepal will be irreversible and will result in the introduction of genetically modified crops,” Fuller adds.
appears to be more credible.
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Two things that clearly emerge are that there is a lobby that would like to see vk singh retire earliest and second that MOD is also part of this lobby. As the article brings out this lobby is of corrupt like kapoor and others who are working with arms dealers and land mafias. Some of people in MOD are also on their payroll and hence the problem. The rot needs to be stemmed and efforts made by General Singh have been laudatory on this front. We must get after all the corrupt to cleanse the army and expose bad hats in MOD. All details available on age issue are clearly indicating deep malaise in MOD and machinations by two chiefs as also PMO. We should all pray that the supreme court gives a kick to all corrupt in army, MOD and PMO.
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Monsanto is a pile of filth that needs to be driven back to Hell!
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There are lakhs of electricians, plumbers, vegetable vendors… and many self employed youth are riding motorcycle, scooters and mopeds… are they rich?? Such hikes really damage their day to day survival.
Let us take an example of an electician who moves using a two wheeler. Does not have stable income.. earns anything between 100 to 500 per day.. depending upon the season and work available. Even if he earns 15000 per month, do you fit him into a middle class? When the man lives in a urban village like badli, munirka, kotla.. on rented house..
While the hike is inevitable, the scrupulous way it is done – that’s what makes every one angry. Why can’t they oil firms keep increasing/decreasing every fortnight – as mandated. The morons running the UPA govt will not let them do it – because – it suits them to hold the hike before major elections and it does not immediately hurt them when the price is raised when there is no immediate election.
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Vladimir Putin, Lal Bahadur
Shastri, Sir Sheshadri Iyer & Sir M Vishweshwarayya’s grand-sons Ravindra
& DK Ravi, VS Acharya & BS Yeddyurappa (Churches were attacked; BSY was
CM; VSA was HM), Rajat Gupta (made Indian companies globally competitive),
Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi (converted to Christianity but was the son of a
Parsee Iranian Shia Muslim), Homi Jehangir Bhabha (a relative of Pakistan
Founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah), Shah Rukh Khan (father is a Pakistani Muslim),
Indira Gandhi (husband was the Parsee-Speaking Iranian Shia Muslim Firoz
Jehangir Nawab Khan Ghandy; USA President Richard Nixon sent USA’s 7th Naval
Fleet , carrying atom bombs, against India during 1971 Bangladesh war but
India’s trusted friend Russia sent its own naval fleet to defend India &
told USA that any USA war against India is a USA war against USSR; the furious
& sadistic Richard Nixon ordered for the assassination of Indira Gandhi
& her sons with the help of Non-Aryan European Christian male & female
human bodies, GPS & REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE – NANO & BIO TECH SENSORS–NEURO
IMAGER –OR – BODY SCANNER – NEURO SCIENCE – NEURO PHYSIOLOGICAL – NEUTO PSYCHIATRIC – NEURO & BODY CLINICAL
TRIAL – NEURO PSYCHOLOGAL – BASED REMOTE BODY AREA NETWORKS (BAN), REMOTE MIND
READING NETWORKS & REMOTE MIND CONTROL NETWORKS, REMOTE EVERY BODY PART TOUCHING,
MASSAGING, ROMANCING, LENGTHENING, SHORTENING, MOLESTING & RAPING NETWORKS
& REMOTE 24-HOURS-A-DAY TALKING, SINGING, SOUND BLASTING & SLEEP
DEPRIVING NETWORKS) Rajesh Pilot (a PM prospect & a future rival),
Jithendra Prasad (contested against the Non-Aryan European Italian Roman
Catholic Christian Sonia Antonia Maino for President of Italian National
Congress), Madhav Rao Scindia (a PM prospect), LTTE Prabhakaran, his sons,
daughter & wife (make Sri Lankan Buddhists & Sri Lankan Hindu Tamils
fight & weaken each other), Raja Ram Mohan Roy (failed to convert him to
Christianity), Narendra Vivekananda Paramahamsa (attracted European Christian
females, including the sexually promiscuous Margaret Isabella, who gave him STD
disease), Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (tricked him into worshipping his traumatized
wife as Goddess Kali) & Mahatma Gandhi (made to eat meat & hear sheep’s
voices inside his brain; killed by the European Greek Christian Nathuram Godse,
whose European Greek ancestors came to India during Alexander’s invasion &
European Christian Crusade Wars against Jewish Rabbi Freedom Fighter Joshua
Jesus Christ’s Jewish Israel & Muhammad’s Arabia), Netaji Subhash Chandra
Bose (made to have sex with Non-Aryan European Christian God Adolph Hitler
worshipping European German Christian woman), Aurobindo Ghose (did not allow his
wife to join him in Pondicherry but he was coerced into having a live in relationship
with a twice-divorced, sexually promiscuous French woman) & Jawaharhal
Nehru (did not allow him to sleep until 3 am every day until he wrote to Mahatma
killer & Non-Aryan European Greek Christian Nathuram Godse’s Greek
Christian relative Edwina Mountbatten) were victims of the Non-Aryan European
Christian & USA Conspiracy to monitor, manipulate & control Asian
Indians, Chinese, Japanese, Burmese, Koreans & Nepalese. OM!
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And yet Dharampal is quite happy with the kerosene situation.
http://shovonc.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/dharampul-remains-confident-of-getting-kerosene/
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