BRAND RENAISSANCE The Superb will spearhead Skoda's revival in Singapore

By Lionel Kong

THE SKODA BRAND is getting ready for a big relaunch here, to be headlined by the new Superb liftback. Local Skoda distributor Harvest Automobiles has revealed that the new flagship car will pave the way for a slew of other new models to come over the next year.

The Czech brand’s sales in Singapore has been slow over the last half a decade, largely due to the lack of public awareness. Harvest Automobiles says that only about 120 Skoda cars were sold to private buyers in the last two years.

This is in contrast to markets like Great Britain and India, where Skodas have become some of the best-selling cars in their respective segments.

However, the distributor hopes that the launch of the new Skoda Superb here as well as the opening of the new Skoda showroom at 3 Leng Kee Road in November this year will turn the brand’s fortunes around.

“We will be selling the new Superb at a price that is very much lower than other similar cars in its segment,” says Daniel Au, the managing director for Harvest Automobiles. “There will be three variants of the car available here after the launch in November this year. The basic and mid-range versions will have 1.8-litre turbo engines and the most luxurious version will be powered by a 3.6-litre V6.”

Besides the spacious and luxurious interior, the other major selling point about the Superb (and actually much of the current Skoda range) is that it is a thoroughly modern car developed by Volkswagen AG, which owns Skoda. As a result the Superb shares many fittings with other cars from the VW range.

The VW developed DSG semi-automatic gearbox will also come as standard on all Superbs to be sold in Singapore. It promises to be a quick car too; the 1.8-litre turbo Superb accelerates from a standstill to 100km/h in under nine seconds.

Another distinguishing feature of the Superb is a split-level rear hatch. This means that the car is both a liftback and sedan at once. The feature is patented to Skoda, and allows you to open just the lower section of the rear hatch like a regular sedan.

Harvest Automobiles says that it will be pulling out all stops to ensure that customers get plenty of value for money when the car is launched here in two month’s time. All cars will come with factory-fittted leather seats, and the higher specified version of the 1.8-litre turbo Superb will come with other factory-fitted GPS navigation along with plenty of other options.

“Premium quality without premium pricing” will be the catch phrase for Skoda here, and Harvest Automobiles hopes that by selling the cars with very low profit margins more potential buyers will be tempted by to check out the brand. Mr Au acknowledges that the best way to improve awareness is to put more Skodas on the road, and an aggressive marketing campaign together with attractive pricing on highly specified cars will hopefully lure potential customers away from other large sedans and into the Skoda showroom.