[TusharK]

Skoda is offering a discount of up to Rs 18 lakh on the imported units of the Superb.



The Skoda Superb was relaunched as a CBU in April this year at a price of Rs 54 lakh (ex-showroom). Only 100 cars were imported in the first batch. Reports suggest that some dealerships still have stock of the car and are offering discounts ranging from Rs 15 to 18 lakh.

It is said that there could be at least 20 to 25 unsold Skoda Superbs in the country. Some unregistered examples have reportedly been seen at multi-brand dealerships in north and central India.

The locally assembled Superb was discontinued following the rollout of the BS6 Stage 2 emission norms. It was priced at Rs 36 lakh (ex-showroom), exactly Rs 18 lakh less than the CBU version.

The imported Superb comes in a single top-spec 'Laurin & Klement' trim. It gets additional features like dynamic chassis control, active tyre pressure monitors, 9 airbags, and a 9-inch Columbus infotainment system.

Source: Autocar India

Link to Team-BHP News

[darkgamer]

Unfortunately dealer discounts still mean the road tax will be taken at the MRP, i.e. 54 lakhs. So for example in KA instead of paying ~7.5 lakhs of road taxes you'll be paying ~11 lakhs.

Skoda could have just priced it at 40 lakhs, raked in more margin, got a bit more goodwill and still sold at the same price as this discounted car.

[Shreyans_Jain]

Škoda is reaping the rewards of its own stupidity. Even after these discounts, I doubt they will be able to move a few units. Everyone knows this model has been discontinued, and then the road tax will also be charged on the full inflated 55L price.

[GTO]

This is an extremely old car, which had made its international debut in 2015! Basically, a 10-year old model in a market where sedans are already dead. In the same time, we have seen THREE different generations of the Toyota Camry.

When we bought the Superb L&K back in 2021, it was already heavily discounted and we paid 33 lakhs OTR.

If there were international kits left over, bring them here, but sell them at a steal of a price to gain brownie points with customers. But no. Skoda launched the Superb at an insane CBU price, no one bought it, and now there is an 18-lakh discount.

[TorquePull]

They launched and sold 2023 made cars for 54 lakhs in 2024? Shows how much they value Indian market. Even with 18 lakhs discount, it’ll still end up costing 50 lakh on road in TN which is still too high for soon to be 2 year old car.

[swoosh]

With road tax it comes around 50 lakhs on-road in Bangalore. Not a great deal.

[KI07]

Good job ruining the goodwill and street-cred of the model.

[prakash_ajp]

This is pure madness. Imagine the extra road tax people will have to pay despite buying at a discount. Surely there has to be a way out. Why can't companies figure out a way to quickly reduce the list price of car so that customer also benefit? The last thing one wants to do is pay more tax to the government for a heavily taxed commodity in a country with very poor infrastructure.

[KI07]

The most disappointed would be the customers who bought it at the actual price or just for a few lakhs off!

[Neelavi]

Great car which is hard to compete as an all rounder by even cars twice the price. Sad that Skoda VW group lacks the commitment to nurture the models without disruptions which turn off even the most loyal customers. A car purchase is a long term high value commitment and even existing customers get anxious when they see their models getting discontinued in one form or the other.

[Nithesh_M]

Yet another manufacturer using us as a dumping ground when they don't find takers elsewhere. And even when their overpriced junk finds no takers they're trying to move the damn thing out with a discount.

[Chetan_Rao]

Skoda took the 'as good as cars twice the price' user sentiment a bit literally.

Now learning 'thinking so' and 'wanting to pay so' aren't the same thing.

[BullettuPaandi]

Originally Posted by prakash_ajp

This is pure madness. Imagine the extra road tax people will have to pay despite buying at a discount. Surely there has to be a way out. Why can't companies figure out a way to quickly reduce the list price of car so that customer also benefit? The last thing one wants to do is pay more tax to the government for a heavily taxed commodity in a country with very poor infrastructure.

Most discounts/offers are from dealers; not the manufacturers. Manufacturers leave pricing with some degree of flexibility to dealers, as it allows them to manage stock a bit more efficiently. Also, OEMs don't really deal with individuals- ever. Everything from distribution to support are outsourced. Although, since this is such a huge discount, it's likely a result of dealers demanding for a cash/stock rebate from the OEM, to be able to clear existing inventory, which goes down in value by the day.

If I'm not mistaken, it is possible for the dealer to reduce the ex-showroom price, which results in lower road tax, GST, etc. It shouldn't necessarily be illegal, as long as it reflects in the invoice . They would've already bought it from the OEM either fully or by financing by the time they sell us; so it's theirs to price however they want, I suppose. (Requesting reassurance on this from actual professionals among the members here; I'm not sure)

But the issue is, the ITD can discern such reductions as tax manipulation- depending on timing of the offers, how often such offers a dealer provides, amount of discount, etc. (just anything that rings an alarm over at the ITD)- and the dealer will end up in the risk of an audit. Even if they come out clean if/when such audit occurs, the OEM may not want to risk dealing with such dealers any further. So, dealers just don't risk doing it (as far as I know), even for small discounts. Given such risks, we can't really negotiate reduction in ex-showroom price out of the dealerships either.

I think the same reasoning goes for 'why the OEMs don't do it' as well. Besides, of course, they don't really care. As far as they're concerned, they've already sold it to the dealer- better yet to them if the sale was via financing. So, they can't really lose money, unless they sort of took a nose dive into the market, and over-stocked beyond a threshold, which never really happens. So, at worst, they only lose profit.

So, the short answer is sort of because it is a heavily taxed commodity, and customers may benefit too much.

TL;DR: Picture the Mrs.You-Know-Who with a rifle at your doorstep meme.

[sachin_cs]

I really want to know that how does a Superb with DCC drives like, Superb in general had a very good ride quality, wondering by what extent that gets changed by the DCC magic. I will be going for my annual service next week, I will try to get a quote for the Superb after discounts, if it makes sense or not, I mean there’s a new generation available but this car is hard to fault with. I’m hoping the new upcoming Superb is CKD and priced sensibly, because at such atrocious prices, Germans are not far.

[W.A.G.7]

Is this the Camry effect? Maybe yes, maybe not. But I wouldn't touch a Skoda or Volkswagen anyway, especially such a high priced car. If the imported pieces are sitting for a year, isn't it possible that there will be electronic and mechanical problems in the cars, by sitting for too long? Even if it has been driven around to keep the car in running condition for all these months, by the dealership; I would still stay away from it. Simply makes no sense when there are better cars for the same kind of money.