Skip to main content

Skoda Considers Entering the US Market

The town of Kodiak, Alaska may finally get to see a Kodiaq, as Automotive New Europe is reporting that Skoda is thinking of selling its cars in North America.

Skoda recently successfully entered the Chinese market, and has been filing trade mark applications in the US for names such as Superb, Octavia, and Yeti, all cars made by the brand. This would mark the Czech brand’s first foray into the American market since the early 1960s, when they briefly sold the Felicia.

13-04-05-Skoda_Museum_Mladá_Boleslav_by_RalfR-014_(cropped)

“In the past our focus was on the European market and our path to growth was in China. Now we are discussing the next step for the brand,” a spokesman told ANE.

Skoda sales have been strong lately, having sold more than 276,000 cars in the first quarter. Profit rose 30% as a result, raising the brand’s margin to 9.3%, better than either Volkswagen or Audi.

Automotive News Europe is suggesting that Skoda might take over for the much maligned Volkswagen brand in the US, where Volkswagen has always struggled and is currently facing especial difficulties due to the recent diesel scandal.

Skoda_Vision_S_Geneva_2016_Front-View

Some analysts say, on the other hand, that Skoda doesn’t offer enough large SUVs and trucks to compete in the American market, though, they’re new full-size SUV is coming out soon. Worse news for North American fans of the brand, a coming drop in automotive sales that is expected to affect all automakers could keep the brand away.

Volkswagen first became involved with Skoda after the fall of communism in 1991, and VW fully acquired the brand in 2000.

[source]

The post Skoda Considers Entering the US Market appeared first on VWVortex.



from VWVortex http://ift.tt/1YbqeOK
via IFTTT

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as...

T-Prime Makes World Premiere at Beijing

[ See image gallery at www.vwvortex.com ] The SUV segment is one of the fastest growing segments in the world and Volkswagen is showing the world how to do it. With the new T-Prime Concept GTE that was revealed today, the company is showing off all of the technology you can look for in its coming models. The T-Prime is a full-size hybrid SUV that can go up to 31 miles on a charge and gets 87 mpg. The hybrid power station is good for 375 hp and 516 lb/ft of torque and puts the power down with 4MOTION all wheel drive. It’ll get you up to 60 in six seconds. The concept’s real party piece, though, is its interior, which features exclusively touch, gesture, and voice controls. Everything from the infotainment, to the display, and even the gears are controlled by touch-screen. The T-Prime Concept GTE is bigger than the Touareg, and design elements are likely to find their way into all of their SUVs, of which there will be many. Volkswagen is also announcing that they expect to make an S...

Watch: The Stig Drives (nearly) Seven Generations of Golf GTI

With Volkswagen announcing “major” updates to the Golf, it seems an appropriate time to look back on what we’ve had so far. And who better to guide us through the rich history of the most popular European car ever made than Ben Collins, the former Stig? Some say he’s never met a GTI he doesn’t love, and that he can’t grow any of his own facial hair. All we know is … Ben Collins is actually a pretty solid presenter. Working his way through seven generations of the GTI (skipping over the Mk6) Collins tells us a little bit about each one and matches each mark to its corresponding facial hair craze. The Mk1 GTI for instance, is light and quick, but can lose traction under hard acceleration (in heavy rain). Despite that, Collins calls the Mk1 a “pure gem.” The Mk4, meanwhile, is a powerful return to form after the perhaps too sensible Mk3. Collins ends in the only way he could, with the Mk7, which accelerates faster than a Lamborghini Countach and is all kinds of wonderful. Watch, ...