A few days ago, the official website of Skoda Automobile, a subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, released the first-half performance. The report shows that in the first half of the year, Skoda achieved operating revenue of 13.652 billion euros, a year-on-year decline of 0.7%; although the operating revenue was basically the same as that of the same period, the operating profit achieved significant growth. In the first half of the year, Skoda’s operating profit was 1.149 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.1%;
In terms of sales, Skoda’s global cumulative sales in the first half of the year were 448,600 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 3.8%. Skoda Automobile said that this benefited from the significantly upgraded model portfolio and a wide range of powertrains, and Skoda is currently the fourth best-selling brand in Europe.
Specifically looking at the models, the Octavia is Skoda’s best-selling product, with a cumulative sales of 121,300 vehicles in the first half of 2024 (a year-on-year increase of 24.1%), and the sales of the Kamiq, Fabia, and Kodiaq are 61,100 vehicles (a year-on-year increase of 4.7%), 56,800 vehicles (a year-on-year increase of 17.5%), and 53,000 vehicles (a year-on-year increase of 0.7%), respectively. In addition to these, the sales of other models all showed a decline.
The realization of year-on-year growth in Skoda’s global sales is mainly due to the European market. Among them, Skoda’s sales in Western Europe increased by 9.8% year-on-year to 260,100 vehicles, and Germany is its largest single market in the world, with sales increasing by 17.8% year-on-year to 91,100 vehicles; sales in Central Europe decreased by 3.3% year-on-year to 95,800 vehicles, of which the domestic market in the Czech Republic decreased by 6.0% year-on-year to 41,300 vehicles; sales in the Eastern European region increased by 7.7% year-on-year to 24,400 vehicles;
In the first half of the year, Skoda’s sales in China were only 7,100 units, a year-on-year decline of 44.3%. Retail data shows that the model with the highest sales of Skoda in China in the first half of the year is Kamiq, which is 2,181 units. Superb, KAROQ and Kodiaq are 2,168 units, 1,309 units and 1,092 units respectively, and other models are all less than 1,000 units.
According to relevant media reports, multiple sources said that Skoda is carrying out a strategic contraction in the Chinese market. The production, channels and brand operation and other businesses have been merged into the SAIC Volkswagen system and coordinated by SAIC Volkswagen. This is the final decision made on the issue of whether Skoda withdraws from the Chinese market, that is, the overall contraction of business in the Chinese market, but still retains the Skoda brand.
According to people familiar with the matter, Skoda has shut down the first plant in Anting, Shanghai. The first plant in Anting once undertook the manufacture of Volkswagen POLO and Skoda Fabia. Now Fabia has been discontinued, and some production lines have been relocated to Jiangsu. Skoda and SAIC Volkswagen share the Changsha and Nanjing factories, but more resources are poured into the production of SAIC Volkswagen. Only the production of Kodiaq is retained in the Changsha factory, and the production of Kamiq and Superb is retained in the Nanjing factory. It is reported that Skoda will not sell the new generation of Kodiaq models in China, which means that Kodiaq will be discontinued and stopped selling.
In terms of the dealer network, most of Skoda’s distribution channels have been merged into SAIC Volkswagen and operate in the form of “store in store”, and the sales, maintenance and financial businesses are all in the charge of SAIC Volkswagen. The relevant businesses and employees of the Skoda brand have also been merged into the SAIC Volkswagen system. According to the official website of SAIC Volkswagen Skoda, at present, there are only 78 domestic dealers left for Skoda, and due to the delay in the update of the official website, perhaps this data is even lower.
While strategically contracting in the Chinese market, Skoda also began to strengthen its market position in the Indian and Vietnamese markets. It is understood that Skoda’s focus in the Asian market has begun to shift to Southeast Asia, hoping to help the entire Volkswagen Group obtain a 4% market share in the Indian market by 2026 through its compact SUV project “India 2.5 Plan”. This strategy will not only strengthen Skoda’s market position in India, but also expand to the ASEAN region through India as the center. In addition, Skoda has already laid out in the Vietnamese market and plans to adopt the local CKD strategy to sell vehicles. Skoda will produce Kushaq in Vietnam, which is the company’s strategic model for the Southeast Asian market. It is reported that Skoda will not sell the new generation of Kodiaq models in China, which means that the subsequent SAIC Skoda Kodiaq will be discontinued and stopped selling.
