skoduta

Last update from me: I cancelled my order this week and got my downpayment back. I managed to find a Mazda on stock at a dealer nearby, went for a test drive, liked it a lot and settled for it. I was a bit disappointed at first I didn't end up with the Skoda, but I can't wait indefinitely for a car to arrive. Also, the Mazda came equipped with almost the same options as the Octavia, plus some extra like blind spot monitoring and ended up costing me 2000 euros less than the Skoda. So good luck to everyone waiting for their car, I hope the wait is worth it and that you will enjoy you ride once it arrives.

I ordered 1.5TSI, manual gearbox, Style trim with an options package offered by the dealer which included a things such as matrix headlights, reverse camera, LED stop lights and such. The only things I added extra were heated steering wheel and backseat window blinds. So I think it was a pretty normal spec, nothing out of the ordinary. However, I ordered it in June last year and I noticed several users here reporting long delays for their orders placed during that period.

After the dealer giving me the bad news that production is delayed indefinitely and my order would probably not be delivered within the next 3-4 months or even more, I decided to look around for other options and see what few models at other brands are on stock. I have waited 9 months without getting any info except "the factory confirmed the order". Yes I understand component shortages, but communication from the factory has been extremely poor. And now when there is even a deeper crisis, the strategy is to shrug and just say "we don't know anything". To anyone looking to buy a new Octavia, consider that you need to be extremely lucky to get your order within a couple of months. By the looks of it right now, around one year-one year and a half waiting time is a pretty good estimate...that is if shortages don't get even worse.

I spoke with my dealer earlier today and the news are bad: the situation in Ukraine has pushed everything into chaos and all his orders has been changed in the system to the term "Delayed". Apparently there are several subcontractor factories in Ukraine that Skoda depend on and it has made an already bad situation much worse. The fire earlier this year delayed production with 2 months, now with the war in Ukraine production is delayed until further notice. Considering all this, I doubt I will get my order delivered this summer (I ordered it late June) and I think I would be lucky if it were to be delivered until the end of the year. The situation is just...insane.

I made a typo. Obviously it should have said that current orders could also be delayed with 2-3 months.

I talked to my dealer this morning regarding the recent fire and whether it would lead to further delays of my order. His response was that no official information has been received from the factory, but he did notice the delivery time for new orders being increased from 10-11 months to 13 months. So a qualified guess would be that current orders could also be deployed with 2-3 months.

So this is my first post and I wanted to share with you information that some users might find useful. I placed my order late June for a 1.5 TSI, manual transmission, Style package + couple of extras. Delivery term 30-35 weeks with estimated delivery month somewhere around mid-February, but the latest update estimates delivery somewhere around early April 2022. Today I got a call from my dealer and he informed me Skoda are trying a pilot project to see if they can speed up production by removing the parking assistant and rear parking camera; apparently three countries are opted (Romania, Bulgaria, plus one I don't remember) and instead of the parking assistant I would get front/rear parking sensors and a 500 euro discount by removing the rear parking camera. However my dealer told me that in a call with Skoda representatives, they could not give an estimate of how much faster production would be by giving up the mentioned options, nor could they guarantee that production would actually be faster. It's more like an experiment to see if it works out or not. The only thing certain was the fact that even if I opted for the "optimization" (the actual term used by Skoda), my order would still not go into production until at least January, with a possible delivery in...February (just as the initial term said). Considering the information given, I chose not to remove any option, especially since no actual guarantees are offered. One or two months more of waiting is not something that bothers me. Also, the dealer mentioned a positive thing is that Skoda tries to honor all orders; apparently other manufacturers are calling some of their clients after 6 or 7 months and say "sorry, we can't build your car anymore, here's your money back". So at least we know we'll get our cars, but it's just a matter of when, not if...