Who or what is the biggest threat to SKODA?

[Wet Kipper]

I think it depends on the sector of car you're looking at.

 

The alternative to my wife's new Fabia was considering a Fiesta based on reviews (which she looked at but didn't like the inside)

A Polo would be too expensive and she felt the hyundia/kia offerings felt "tinny"

 

Had we wanted a "warm/hot" small hatch, Skoda are out straight away because they don't do one.

 

If I was replacing my Octavia Estate, I'm not sure where else I would look for the balance of space and cost to get me away from a new Octy, or even a Superb.

 

Even specific dealerships play a part, for example, if you fancy a Ford/Kia/VW/Peugot/whatever but you know that locally that would involve speaking to someone at Arnold Clark or Evans Halshaw (once bitten, twice shy)

[silver1011]

23 hours ago, Ryeman said:

I grew up in an area of Melbourne which was lucky enough to have a Peugeot dealership.  It was a family run business and many decades later it still is a Peugeot family selling Peugeots and knowing and valuing all its customers ........not the white goods transient salesmen of so many dealerships gladhanding 'til they've got your money and then can't remember your name.........if they're still there.

 

Was it Regan Motors in Balwyn?

 

I passed this small dealership on the tram whilst I was over there for three weeks in November.

 

Looked very family run, I remember thinking that the service is likely to be top-notch in there...

 

 

[Ryeman]

Ya gottit!

its always been on that site.

 

Ah, such memories 

Lots of Peugeots in Balwyn area for a good reason.

Edited 27 January, 2017 by Ryeman

[Ryeman]

1 hour ago, silver1011 said:

 

Was it Regan Motors in Balwyn?

 

I passed this small dealership on the tram whilst I was over there for three weeks in November.

 

Looked very family run, I remember thinking that the service is likely to be top-notch in there...

Did you take the 109 tram to Port Melbourne and Delish Fish (f&c)?

 

 

[Ryeman]

Did you take the 109 to Delish Fish @ Port Melbourne?

[tinkytinca]

I must admit that if it wasn't for the DSG I would not have chosen the Skoda.

The dealer was carp but they had the model I wanted.

Skodas choice of tyres for instance, is appalling and as for the handling, the least said the better (I'm not a youngster and this is going to be my last car). The equipment levels are terrible, with cost cutting.

Would I buy Skoda again? As my grandson would say, "No way Hoe Say" showing in all areas.

Edited 29 January, 2017 by tinkytinca
Spelling

[cheezemonkhai]

Biggest threat is their jumped up pricing (IMHO)

[Clunkclick]

Generally, biggest threat to anything corporate, including SKODA, is its own management.

 

Apart from the really big   and well established organisations like Ford and Toyota developing as  a car manufacturer means  going "Up-market".

 

That's  what Skoda seem to be doing.

 

Presumably, they'll be doing this in-line the improving fortunes of the majority of their customers that they identified years ago. The question is does this mean that they are tied to the anticipated lifetime expenditure profiles of a group of customers they identified somewhere back in year -t x ? Ultimately, they will have to plan to  jump off that particular  bandwagon as the customer group's income profile diminishes with age and jump on another. There must be a finite limit to how much extra revenue you can get from decreasing sales simply by sticking loads of unnecessary features on a vehicle.

 

Further, this philosophy is going to be challenged as we are beginning to see urban road transport move to electric vehicles and  short-term hire rather than ownership. I would have thought that reliability, ease of maintenance and security,  are going to be key here. Who needs, an electric musical drinks stirrer in the back seat if the average hire time is 35 minutes.

 

With auto-drive on the mass usership horizon within 20 years, differentiating between performance in order to secure sales could be diminished.

 

And with World demand for car likely to be completely satiated/fulfiiled with the next 25 years and with group travel being favoured over individual travel (For logistics and economy) will we see capital migrating away from car manufacture to something else . . 

 

On the current market, the Koreans and some of the japs are even further down the "Useless gadetary" dead-end than VAG and that perhaps Renault have espied the future mass trend. 

 

Nick

Edited 30 January, 2017 by Clunkclick

[ColinD]

I'm surprised no one has said uber  Although driverless is kind on on the same lines with millennial generation having a less than eager desire to own a car... urban areas this applies to of course. Can't imagine a 17year old in Devon relying on public transport for social life, nigh on impossible anywhere streetlights are not on.

 

Although that view isn't the scenario I painted... I am wondering if I'd bother. The EV thing was nagging at me. My citigo costs me nothing in a month it does not go anywhere. An EV with battery rent will cost me £x. Ok if I had a v8 or v12 on the drive, the cost per mile would make that EV charge dwindle over the total cost. I'd be looking at a kia soul ev. For the 'family' car I'm still not sure... pug might get it.

 

Nice space, after all, it has to be nice and sound good inside for most of the UK driving nowadays. A good 3rd gear will help, don't care for the others.

Edited 30 January, 2017 by ColinD

[Ryeman]

Perhaps it won't be long before a generation regards driving as sooo yesterday.....with uber evolving into an autonomous vehicle response to a smartphone app command.

Auto manufacturers would call that a disruptive technology and BEVs the least of their worries 

[cheezemonkhai]

28 minutes ago, ColinD said:

I'm surprised no one has said uber  Although driverless is kind on on the same lines with millennial generation having a less than eager desire to own a car... urban areas this applies to of course. Can't imagine a 17year old in Devon relying on public transport for social life, nigh on impossible anywhere streetlights are not on.

 

Although that view isn't the scenario I painted... I am wondering if I'd bother. The EV thing was nagging at me. My citigo costs me nothing in a month it does not go anywhere. An EV with battery rent will cost me £x. Ok if I had a v8 or v12 on the drive, the cost per mile would make that EV charge dwindle over the total cost. I'd be looking at a kia soul ev. For the 'family' car I'm still not sure... pug might get it.

 

Nice space, after all, it has to be nice and sound good inside for most of the UK driving nowadays. A good 3rd gear will help, don't care for the others.

 

Although even a Supercharged V6 or V8 would have massively more smiles per mile than the current range of electric cars.

 

[Rooted]

For anyone that wants or needs to use personal transport like a car to enter a city, town or just a commute several times a week then £10 a day maybe less

(£70 a week / annually maybe less than this vehicle dependent)

This can have you a leased EV and not paying congestion charges which could cost more than a daily lease charge,

in some locations no parking charges to pay, all year no VED or the expense of Petrol or Diesel and location dependent even nothing for electricity.

Edited 30 January, 2017 by Offski

[blueR36]

When I came to replace my Octavia vRS I looked at a MK3 vRS but they are now silly money , when I bought my vRS in 2006 brand new the difference in price to  a Golf GTI was 5.5 grand with nearly all the options as standerd . So I bought my at that time nearly 3 yeard old R36 for 11 grand less than a basic vRS petrol although they now seem to be 5k cheaper new than they were when launched. Although my dealer was generally ok, Skoda  customer service was abysmal leaving you high and dry when all other VAG customer services cover you, ( and yes Ive experianced this ) . Most of the other manufacturers seemed to have raised their game, my wife has had Citroën ,Hyundai ,  and now a Renault recently with zero problems ( unlike my Skoda)  apart from her IX35 on one of the alloys paint was going dull, ( they replaced all four with no quibles ,even though only one afected so they matched! Brother in law has two Fords now after having BMWs and his Edge is lovely . I think Skoda have got it right with the new Supurb especially as an Estate, but most of the others really cant warrant the outlay .

[skomaz]

1 hour ago, Ryeman said:

Perhaps it won't be long before a generation regards driving as sooo yesterday.....with uber evolving into an autonomous vehicle response to a smartphone app command.

Auto manufacturers would call that a disruptive technology and BEVs the least of their worries 

 

Possibly not quite - we still have a long way to go to change peoples private car ownership attitudes and, whilst the younger generation you are talking about seem to have less car ownership overall, the latest thought and figures seem to imply that this might just have been a temporary blip brought on by the global recession...

[Breezy_Pete]

I resent this thread Colin; particularly the title. 

At first glance, with small phone screen and middle-aged eyes, every bloody time it looks like: 

Wino or what is the biggest threat to SKODA?

 

! 

[octyal]

I would be looking towards the emerging Hyundai N brand to replace the vRS. All the press i have seen about the upcoming i30N has been full of praise, even with the pre production ones that are being used as early road test cars - although I would probably wait for the 4wd version......

[philbes]

I shall soon be changing my Octavia vRS MKII FL CR, will be changing back to petrol has my mileage has dramatically (15K annualy to 8-9K)  and will be looking at Seat Leon ST and Golf estate.  Partly sticking with VAG so that I can continue to use my winter wheels/tyres.  May also look at a Seat Ateca (although my winters will then be the wrong spec) if a decent petrol engine with DSG is available.

 

VAG seem to have a trend where DSG is only available with the diesels and low power petrols.

[Wardy]

I think the answer depends on which Skoda model is being replaced by the owner/driver, as the range is obviously a bit bigger than it once was.

 

But I'd say Hyundai/Kia as an overall, broad-based answer.

 

Also competition internally from VW/Seat, as others have mentioned.

 

For me, it tends to be gearbox lead so something with a twin-clutch or ZF 8spd

[Ryeman]

I would imagine there would be a significant % (majority?) of young ones who would jump at the opportunity to avoid the stressful and costly driving license and, instead, let a 'device' deliver them whilst they continue tweeting.

[gullyg]

On 30/01/2017 at 20:47, Ryeman said:

I would imagine there would be a significant % (majority?) of young ones who would jump at the opportunity to avoid the stressful and costly driving license and, instead, let a 'device' deliver them whilst they continue tweeting.

You can add some Older-ish owners as well. 

 

I'd happily give up my driving license for a self driving car, assuming it was safe etc. It takes me an hour to drive 15miles to work on average. Even when I'm not driving to work the traffic is carp and it's a pain to find parking plus the drink drive limit is so low here there's no point drinking if you need to drive at any point in the next week (exaggerated I know). 

 

That and the true oldies - my grandad is 96 and still driving, a fact that puts the fear of God into me, a self driving car for him would be fantastic. Although for him it really should be called a taxi but he knows best!

[Ryeman]

Melbourne and Sydney commuters in cars surely can't enjoy peak hours.

There is a trial of fully autonomous busses operating in Perth already.

[Ryeman]

The new 3008 has WiFi capability 

Apps, map updates, software also?

Hopefully all eventually 

[matt_theforce]

As others have said, the biggest threat to Skoda in my eyes is they have lost their biggest selling points, good quality & affordable cars. 

 

Seeing how they have changed over the years & my past experiences, I doubt I will be back in a Skoda due to Pricing/Reliability & dealer attitudes, my 10year old Citroen Dispatch had less failures in 1 year of ownership than any of my Octavia's had in their one year of ownership & the mileage covered was around 15k in each of them.

 

I've now made the jump to Toyota & got a similar spec to my previous Octavia's, similar load space, the same economy (but from a petrol rather than diesel) & I much prefer driving it to the Octavia's, it was much cheaper to purchase & insure than the Octavia too.

Edited 26 April, 2017 by DarkPeakCycles

[Coops]

I'm in the fortunate position of having a fully funded company car, albeit restricted to certain manufacturers - VW, Skoda, SEAT, Audi, BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover. Necessity required me to have a large car early one (arrival of twins) so I started with the Skoda Octavia Estate and I've never moved away from the marque, now driving a well spec'd Superb Estate.

 

If I remain in the same employment and the company car list remains the same, then I don't think I'll be moving away. Although the imminent arrival of the Jaguar XF Estate will certainly make me think in 3.5 years time. When you look at the other marques I can choose from there really isn't much competition:

• VW - would have to be the Passat. Very competent car, as well spec'd as the Superb
• SEAT - nothing in the range comparable really
• Audi - A4 or A6 estate. Lovely cars but high P11D value to get comparable spec to the Superb
• BMW - 3 or 5 Series, X3 perhaps. Know many colleagues who've ditched their 5 Series and gone to A6 ?
• Jaguar - only XE available to us at present, that's not big enough and there is no estate
• LR - only Evoque available to us at present, as above

I've not really had that many issues with my Skodas' over the years - my last Superb ran for 120k+ without any problem. Although my current one has had a few minor niggles and it really is boring to drive!

 

However, I strongly suspect that in 3.5 years time our fleet will have changed from purely diesel (we run nothing else) to a more petrol biased fleet, with possible hybrid options. Does that mean the manufacturer list will open up? Maybe, maybe not, it's all geared around who we do work for (reciprocal trade).

 

If I was a private buyer I don't think I'd look at Skoda. We run a SEAT Ibiza in the household too and the service from SEAT has been second to none, in stark contrast to my experience with the Skoda network.

 

 

[Octy0GG]

Their own competency

Having built up a loyal customer base through a good reputation for value and reliability, Skoda have taken the opportunity to move their primary design focus to cost saving, has to be said that their engineers and designers have fulfilled this brief magnificently and it is a very good short term strategy for Skoda. Problem is though that there is not much in it for the customer, in the longer term it wont work for Skoda either.

 

 

Being part of the VAG 

Understandably no one's flavour of the month right now. Also although Skoda products can be allowed to move up in price they can never be allowed to overshadow VW or Audi.

 

My next car will probably be a Focus as I'm realising Skoda are probably stretching customer loyalty and reputation based on years gone by a bit too far. I have taken almost 1/4 century to get over a 1991 Ford Escort, but think I'm about ready to give them another go. Main reason I didn't buy a Focus recently was boot too small for present needs (while current Mondeo is a bit of a monster) so next time, unless I really need an Octavia size boot, it will be a Focus for me.