Škoda Auto announces all-new compact SUV for India, asks customers to name it

Škoda's all-new compact SUV will be the company’s first ever vehicle in the segment in India. The vehicle which will be on Indian roads in the first half of 2025.

Mumbai: Škoda Auto India has on Tuesday announced that it will be launching an all-new compact SUV in the Indian market in 2025. The car will be Škoda’s major product offensive after the Kushaq and the Slavia.

According to a press release, Škoda’s all-new compact SUV will be the company’s first ever vehicle in the segment in India. The vehicle which will be on Indian roads in the first half of 2025, will witness Škoda Auto India continue its made-for-India, ready-for-the-world ethos, where the company specifically develops cars focussed on the local market with an eye on localisation and low maintenance costs.

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The all-new vehicle will be the new entry level product in Škoda Auto India’s fleet with the company intending on penetrating deeper and wider into Tier 3 and smaller markets with the car, the release said.

Škoda Auto India stated that the car will be based on the MQB-A0-IN platform which was developed specifically for India and made available through the Kushaq SUV in July 2021, and the Slavia sedan in March 2022.

It is the first platform developed by the company outside of Europe and tailor-made for the Indian market.

Speaking on the announcement, Klaus Zellmer, CEO of Škoda Auto, said, “India is crucial to the global growth of Škoda Auto, both because of its own market strength and as a development and manufacturing base for our expansion in new markets including ASEAN and the Middle East. We have more than doubled sales in India since 2021 and we are now taking the next step by further expanding the range of models designed for customers in India and internationally.”

“The all-new compact SUV due in 2025 will add an important segment for customers. I’m confident the expanding Škoda portfolio will contribute to our India growth target of achieving a market share for the Volkswagen family of brands of around 5 percent by 2030, ” he added.

The game in the name

In the press release, Auto India has also announced a naming contest for this all-new compact SUV. In an endeavour to enable users, customers and fans on what they think this all-new compact SUV should be named, Škoda Auto India announced the #NameYourSkoda campaign inviting entries from across India for possible names for this first-ever Škoda product in this segment in the country.

The company ran similar campaigns earlier, where the names of the company’s last two offering were inspired by suggestions given by people. While Kushaq was inspired by the Sanskrit word for “emperor” and Slavia took its name from the “bicycle”, which was the first ever product of the company from its origins in 1895.