Skoda announces new service initiative
Words by Abhishek Wairagade
Skoda India has announced several new service features to recoup its diminishing brand value in the country. The Czech manufacturer has always been known for its solidly-built, fun-to-drive cars ever since the Octavia was launched in 2001. The chink in the armour has been the after-sales service for its customers. Not just the service, even the dealerships take weeks to offer test drives of their cars.
Skoda has realised the shortcomings and is taking steps to improve its brand image by investing Rs 100 crore to revamp its service model. Starting with the redesigned showrooms which would be modern and transparent, the carmaker has launched two new smartphone apps. The first one being called MySKoda which would allow existing customers to go through the service history, call for Road Side Assistance(RSA), locate Skoda dealerships and schedule the next service. The second one is called iConsultant. The app is iPad specific and would allow prospective customers to understand and learn about the complete line-up of Skoda cars in detail.
Along with the digitalised platforms, Skoda will now offer an array of services to choose from, which will not only make the service experience transparent but would allow for uniform pricing across the dealerships. All the cars starting from September 1 will come with 4 years/1,00,000km warranty and RSA. Existing customers will also be benefitted with the RSA initiative. Skoda has also promised to deliver the car on the same day to customers during their periodic maintenance service.
Skoda is working on the after-sales service to prep the dealerships for its upcoming launches. The company has planned four new launches for next year including its full-sized SUV, Kodiaq and enthusiast-friendly version of the Octavia, the RS. Also, two major variants of Octavia and Rapid will be introduced in the near future which will be known as ‘action models’, each being called as Black Edition and Monte Carlo, respectively. Safety also has been of paramount importance since a few months in the automobile industry and Skoda is following suit by confirming to equip its entire line-up with ABS as standard by the end of 2016 (All Skodas get airbags as standard).
