Slavia will be the second India-focused product from Skoda under its India 2.0 strategy
The Indian sedan space has been degrowing consistently as most buyers are moving towards SUVs or MPVs, which provide them better ground clearance and road presence. Skoda however still thinks that Indian customers might respond well to a good sedan and that is essentially why it is getting ready to launch the Slavia in the country, sometime soon, most likely in March’22.
It must be noted that Skoda had initially forayed into the Indian market with sedans and had landed up establishing itself as an affordable luxury brand. Models like the Octavia, Laura and the Rapid helped it to connect well with the Indian sedan lovers and enthusiasts, both. Skoda now is planning to recreate the same magic, however at a much larger scale and the Slavia is the product which it is betting upon.
Skoda tested the Slavia for almost 2 years on Indian roads and in late 2021, they officially unveiled the product. Now, production ready units of the Slavia have started to reach dealerships, indicating that the launch is imminent. Bookings of the sedan had already started against a token amount of INR 11K. Test drives for interested customers are expected to start in March.
Skoda Slavia Highlights
Talking about the Sedan, the Slavia happens to be part of Skoda’s India 2.0 project. It has been built upon the MQB A0 IN platform and has heavy localization levels of around 95%. In terms of dimensions, the sedan measures 4,541 mm in length, 1,487 mm in height, 1,752 mm in width and rides on a wheelbase of 2,651 mm.
Skoda will be launching the Slavia in 3 trim options, namely, Active, Ambition and Style. The top of the line Style trim will be getting a long list of creature comfort features which would include a 10-inch touchscreen infotainment unit, electric sunroof, touch-based automatic climate control, 8-inch digital instrument cluster and much more. On the safety front, the sedan will pack features like ABS, EBD, a multi-collision braking system, rear parking camera and 6 airbags.
Under the hood, the Slavia will get 2 engine options and multiple gearbox combinations. These would include a 1 litre TSI motor which will be able to dish out 108 hp and 175 Nm of max torque. It will be offered with a 6-speed manual gearbox and a 6-speed autobox as well.
The range topping Style trim will also get a 1.5 litre TSI unit which will be able to churn out 148 hp and 250 Nm of peak torque. This larger motor will be available with 2 gearbox options, a 6-speed MT and a 7-speed DSG automatic. The 1.5 litre engine will make the Slavia the most powerful sedan in its class.
Competition
Competition of the Slavia will include the current segment champion, the Honda City (4th and 5th gen models), Hyundai Verna, Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and the current gen VW Vento (which too shall get replaced by Slavia’s cousin later this year). However, considering the price bracket, Slavia will also have to fend off competition from compact SUVs which have been ravaging the mid-sized sedan segment since the last few years.
