From reading the posts on this forum it would appear that depending on which country you are in, the specifications of the cars change, Why.  This in my opinion just confuses the situation for both customers, like us reading the threads and for them. Why not have say 5 specification levels top being Laurin & Klement and bottom the S range, and Engines as per now, and a full range of Colours like in Czechoslovakia, and then a range of options you can put on your car. All the same for all the countries they sell too that way it would be simpler for them and us . As an example the L&K I have ordered in the UK, appears to have several items included that are not included on the L&K from Belgium.

From reading the posts on this forum it would appear that depending on which country you are in, the specifications of the cars change, Why.  This in my opinion just confuses the situation for both customers, like us reading the threads and for them. Why not have say 5 specification levels top being Laurin & Klement and bottom the S range, and Engines as per now, and a full range of Colours like in Czechoslovakia, and then a range of options you can put on your car. All the same for all the countries they sell too that way it would be simpler for them and us . As an example the L&K I have ordered in the UK, appears to have several items included that are not included on the L&K from Belgium.

Yes, there are very different versions in different countries (eg. I don't get the tv-tuner in the L&K, and in Sweden I think they get the auxiliary heating standard on L&K?). I wouldn't bother if they used different naming (eg. we don't get S, SE SE-L etc, but Active, Ambition, Style & L&K). Some countries get Businessline and/or Sportsline. In the Netherlands you can only get L&K on 190HP DSG Diesel and 280HP DSG petrol. As they are all built in the same factory, I don't understand the big differences in specs...

 

Really, if you want to understand an international forum, you really need to go check the local skoda website. Otherwise it's almost impossible to know what kind of specs the specific car has.

Sounds like your as confused as me ha ha .

moreover options list were changed on "happy" new 2016 year -

couple of options got 5~15euros + and some package gone at all

 

but that is for all VAG group, at the end of 2015 couple of Passat's Highline options migrated to extra list

 

Can't even specify auxiliary heating as an option in the UK :(

I guess all option changes and variations are related once to region (I.e eastern europe countries and climate conditions) and local dealer choice and to skoda itself. Just take alook at the model S3 that's for sale in Asia.N ot quite sure about the price of the vehicles does they follow same logic.

I have checked the spec and prices for one and same car with identical added extras and for Bulgaria and Germany as example the price differ with noticeable amount. Also here local dealer offer columbus/trizone/alarm/dimmed windows for about extra 1000eu, as the total cost of the extras are at least twice more. 100% sure the dealer does not cover the difference in price, but it is skoda who is paying.

All manafactures have different spec per market... years ago.. even the diff between French and Spanish cars was massive... climate control v standard, Audi Slines with SE interiors etc etc..

 

All comes down the what the epetations of that market is v the competitors .. .. In the Uk its now expected that cars have aircon, climate, satnav, where as in Scandinavian its heated seats, Aux heaters, winter packs with headlight washers etc..

 

Horses for courses as they say.

From reading the posts on this forum it would appear that depending on which country you are in, the specifications of the cars change, Why.  This in my opinion just confuses the situation for both customers, like us reading the threads and for them. Why not have say 5 specification levels top being Laurin & Klement and bottom the S range, and Engines as per now, and a full range of Colours like in Czechoslovakia, and then a range of options you can put on your car. All the same for all the countries they sell too that way it would be simpler for them and us . As an example the L&K I have ordered in the UK, appears to have several items included that are not included on the L&K from Belgium.

It seems to depend on what each country importer thinks will sell depending on market expectations, but I do agree it would surely be easier for both the manufacturer and us if they had cross border identical models allowing for individual country legal compliances, not just similarities, an L&K for example has the same equipment levels regardless of country of sale.

 

Ford began a similar system with their 'One Ford' policy back in 2008. It works for them up to a point, we have the Ford Mondeo which is basically the same as the US Ford Fusion, they also get the Fiesta, Focus, C-Max, Transit etc which they didn't until then.

 

I hired a new VW Passat in the US last year expecting it to be basically the same as the UK model, which most of it was, but there were some pretty big differences such as the UK Passat has had auto hold and electronic handbrake since 2005, the US version still uses a manually operated handbrake - not what I was expecting.

 

Not trying to be clever, but Czechoslovakia ceased to exist from the end of December 1992!!!. I was firmly but politely reminded of this last time I was working there, now known as the Czech Republic, and Slovak Republic.

It seems to depend on what each country importer thinks will sell depending on market expectations, but I do agree it would surely be easier for both the manufacturer and us if they had cross border identical models allowing for individual country legal compliances, not just similarities, an L&K for example has the same equipment levels regardless of country of sale.

 

Ford began a similar system with their 'One Ford' policy back in 2008. It works for them up to a point, we have the Ford Mondeo which is basically the same as the US Ford Fusion, they also get the Fiesta, Focus, C-Max, Transit etc which they didn't until then.

 

I hired a new VW Passat in the US last year expecting it to be basically the same as the UK model, which most of it was, but there were some pretty big differences such as the UK Passat has had auto hold and electronic handbrake since 2005, the US version still uses a manually operated handbrake - not what I was expecting.

 

Not trying to be clever, but Czechoslovakia ceased to exist from the end of December 1992!!!. I was firmly but politely reminded of this last time I was working there, now known as the Czech Republic, and Slovak Republic.

 

The key issue is price.. you start loading these cars to the same spec the most demanding countries expect and the far eastern EU countries will just buy something else.

 

ie.. a UK L&K prices from £31k RRP

 

Romania... 33k euros... = £26.5k. GBP

 

Poland - 137k Zl = around £20k GBP...   even the top one off the shelf is 170 000 Zl which is less than £25k GBP

 

Cheap cars are markets need to have spec stripped out... while at the same time over charging for other markets.. ie west eu.

 

The americans VAG stuff has been a mix bag for years... plus some random 2.5 petrol engines in Golfs etc too costing the same as a UK Polo

Edited 5 April, 201610 yr by RickTT

The key issue is price.. you start loading these cars to the same spec the most demanding countries expect and the far eastern EU countries will just buy something else.

 

ie.. a UK L&K prices from £31k RRP

 

Romania... 33k euros... = £26.5k. GBP

 

Poland - 137k Zl = around £20k GBP...   even the top one off the shelf is 170 000 Zl which is less than £25k GBP

 

Cheap cars are markets need to have spec stripped out... while at the same time over charging for other markets.. ie west eu.

 

The americans VAG stuff has been a mix bag for years... plus some random 2.5 petrol engines in Golfs etc too costing the same as a UK Polo

A UK L&K is priced from £25,300, the remainder to make it reach £31,000 is over £5000 in VAT, allow for the different tax in different countries including import duties and they are not too far off being the same price in different countries. 

A UK L&K is priced from £25,300, the remainder to make it reach £31,000 is over £5000 in VAT, allow for the different tax in different countries including import duties and they are not too far off being the same price in different countries.

I agree there is rarely a difference in base price, but each country has different tax regimes, from the very punitive to the low/ none. Ireland is in the higher end for car tax. But given the similarities of the U.K. and Irish demographics I find it amazing the difference in specs eg the L&K is totally different , some of this is down to the tax difference - I get that - an L&K in Ireland is about €45k for a 190 DSG about £34k, but we get things UK don't and visa versa eg Ireland get 19" Pegasus as standard (why?) but don't get ACC and a lot of other stuff as standard - looking at the brochure the wheels cost more - why can't there be a standard L&K across similar markets with extras priced for the market.

I agree there is rarely a difference in base price, but each country has different tax regimes, from the very punitive to the low/ none. Ireland is in the higher end for car tax. But given the similarities of the U.K. and Irish demographics I find it amazing the difference in specs eg the L&K is totally different , some of this is down to the tax difference - I get that - an L&K in Ireland is about €45k for a 190 DSG about £34k, but we get things UK don't and visa versa eg Ireland get 19" Pegasus as standard (why?) but don't get ACC and a lot of other stuff as standard - looking at the brochure the wheels cost more - why can't there be a standard L&K across similar markets with extras priced for the market.

And to add to this, let's say I want to resell my car in eg. the Netherlands. I can advertise it as "top-spec, everything included, ..." but in comparison to the Dutch model, it's completely different to what is in their brochures. Which means it's up to the customer to find out which country-specific spec a second hand car has? If I sell my car in the Netherlands, they will even be driving a car that has never been sold there (150hp manual L&K)... And although there taxes are different, it would be more logical for them to have lower-engine levels as their tax on CO2 is much higher then ours.

The sort of info that marketeers love when deciding on country specific specs. This is from the latest SMMC (Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders) news for March 2016 .

 

Anyone for a pink S3 ?    :no:

 

1.     More than a fifth of cars registered in March 2016 were white, following the trend set in 2015, with neutral tones black and grey in second and third place.

2.     Not all Britons are quite so keen to follow the trend, with some 3,300 new cars specified in orange, 2,000 in yellow and more than 1,000 buyers choosing pink.

To add to confusion, someone is employed in each region to 'configure' the cars, i.e. which options we can and cannot possibly order. With some fairly obvious holes in the logic and demands too.

 

Given what can actually be ordered and is 'in spec' varies with time due to part shortages it's a wonder we're still not driving black cars... maybe the chap ( Henry T Ford ) had the right idea all along.

 

I'm sure the technical reason is all to do with scheduling in manufacturing/ safety approval/ testing or other things.