Skoda Australia confirms its biggest new car roll-out yet

Skoda Australia is coming into its biggest year ever for product launches, with plans to introduce an unprecedented number of updated and new-generation vehicles throughout 2024.

Skoda will finally join the EV race with the new Enyaq and Enyaq RS models in October, but the brand is yet to confirm its intentions with pricing and specifications for the much anticipated – and late to arrive – EV pairing. In theory, though, those models will line up against the Tesla Model Y, which now spans $63,500 to $82,900 plus on-road costs.

At the other end of the scale, Skoda will also finally add a new entry-grade version of the Fabia city car, which the brand describes as ‘actually more like a mid-spec’ – meaning you can expect it won’t slot in below $30,000 drive-away.

5

However, we’ve heard it will be ‘significantly’ more affordable than the Monte Carlo, which is $38,990 drive-away.

Above the Fabia in size but likely close on price will be the facelifted Scala hatchback, which is expected to retain a two-trim model range, but with modest price increases to support additional standard spec. The current Scala lines up at $33,990 for the 1.0-litre turbo three-cylinder 85TSI Ambition and $42,490 for the four-cylinder 1.5L 110TSI Signature spec.

Also coming is the revised Kamiq small SUV, the facelifted midsize Octavia liftback and wagon, and the vital all-new Kodiaq seven-seater SUV.

And before the new-gen Kodiaq arrives, there’s a value-packed Sportline Run-Out model for $56,590 drive-away, adding $5000 of additional equipment at no premium over the base model Style.

5

Skoda Australia managing director, Michael Irmer, said the brand’s second-half of 2024 will be significant for sales in the years to come, following a couple of years of unprecedented global setbacks.

“Obviously in 2021, the disruptions happened. Supply and the semiconductors, we then had to switch and pivot to vehicles with certain de-specification.

“Then we saw these massive cost inflations going through, and rippling through the whole industry, the energy prices, then the war in Europe started, and that drove our price levels up.

“And that basically has led many manufacturers to increase prices because the costs were starting to spiral out of control, and we are no different there, either.

5

“I think we’re now coming out of this phase of total distortion in the marketplace, and in the meantime the market has also changed quite a bit,” he said.

Mr Irmer forewarned that 2024, despite all the activity, could well be pretty lean in terms of sales figures, as most of the launches will be in the second half of the year.

“It's towards the tail-end, mostly,” he said. “So you won’t see this affecting sales until next year for those cars.
 And the first facelift will come mid-year, but a facelift is not the same as a full-new car. The new cars are the ones in quarter four,” he said.

According to the brand, the rollout is as follows:

5

All the pricing and specs will be covered as the details for each of the new models are confirmed by the brand, and we can’t wait to see where the Enyaq EV models end up given the brand’s push to remain to be seen as an affordable brand from Europe.

“The world around us has changed as well,” Mr Irmer said. “The economic situation has changed, the supply shortage is gone, we can now equip the cars again the way we like it - we don't need to constantly work around shortages of certain equipment levels. And we also don't have this totally unprecedented shortage of production output anymore. So this is all gone.

“Skoda was always a brand with value and, a little bit also, the entry into the VW Group's model portfolio. But in Australia, we've been experiencing … the brand has been able to establish itself differently based on what our mix of product was.”

It’s worth also keeping in mind that, unlike every other European brand on the market, Skoda Australia backs its vehicles with a standard seven-year, unlimited-kilometre warranty, and offers buyers the chance to add a seven-year prepaid servicing pack for considerably less than the pay-as-you-go rate.