[askakhr]

Couldn’t agree more. Honestly, I’m starting to feel completely disconnected from whatever GTM strategy the German Twins are following. It’s just been one letdown after another.

First, the R line, how do you even miss out on basics like ventilated seats, electric tailgate, seat adjustment, and a 360° camera?

And now the new Kodiaq? No DCC, no ADAS, no hybrid… and those wheels, man. Just disappointing. At this point, I think I’m better off sticking with the Koreans until I can stretch my budget enough for an X3.

Feels like they are just trying to clear out old stock internationally and dumping it in India. Total letdown.

[volkman10]

See how Skoda Kodiaq and Volkswagen Tiguan R-Line stack up against rivals on the price graph.

[F150]

Is it only me or the review pictures are not of usual Team-BHP review quality ?

Coming to the Kodiaq -

Front looks imposing, the side profile is MPVish like a Innova.
Rear profile doesn't evoke the Skoda stylish genes.
The full Skoda lettering on the steering well is also not welcome and looks tacky. The erstwhile Skoda logo on the steering wheel was a timeless classic.
No ADAS at 60L OTR is a glaring miss and probably wont be missed by Chauffeurs anyway.

[Hayek]

Think this car looks brilliant from the inside and has a great set of features. And relative to any other CKD / CBU car, it is priced reasonably. Agree that deletion of features is not great - but after having had an X3 with adaptive dampers and having never used them, not sure to what extent DCC is a must have feature. The feature I would miss is adaptive cruise control. With the insane number of speed cameras on highways, I now cruise at the speed limit, and Adaptive Cruise Control makes life much easier in those cases. Think this will continue to sell about 200-250 units per month, which is what Skoda probably wants to sell at this price.

[mgoel]

If i compare this to Hyundai Tucson which is also a CKD, comes with 2.0 L Peppy diesel and a great city as well as highway car, have all features, it is 50% more costlier

[Fib Only]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

I empathise with you but also sympathise with the poor Sales Advisors (SAs).

Why?

• These days, customers for premium vehicles walk in researched to the gills with both India and global specs of fresh launches.
• They have access to the same browser-based 'secret' screens that earlier a SA would conspiratorially turn towards them to show some 'Sir, don't-tell-anyone' feature.
• Now, customers know the exact combination of all features, trims and ex-showroom prices across every global market the vehicle is sold in.
• Those snazzy brochures are rarely printed any more. WA PDF forwards are so passe and difficult to read on mobiles with their useless pagination.
• To add to the ignominy, blessed RTOs take a few days to incorporate the price-list into their system so as to arrive at a definitive on-road price.
• Even display and test drive cars are usually allocated a few days later aligned to the RTO approvals.

If I were a SA, I would feel faint every time an obviously well-researched exuberant customer strides into my showroom enquiring about a brand new launch. This would be especially true for CKD/CBUs where (figuratively and literally), the unveil happens concurrently for dealers and retail customers.

Yeah, I too sympathize with the SAs. Not because of pressure from the more knowledgeable and exuberant customers, but due to the lack of support from their principal – Skoda – in this case. If the SAs are not trained to deal with the presumably sharper customers, it’s an easy fix of right training & direction from the showroom leadership & the principal. Tougher will be the lack of direction & intent from Skoda. Let me set the record straight. I did not see anything drastically astray in the showroom in question. While I have not been a customer of the showroom, but know folks who are and they are happy. I suspect the listlessness of the SAs because they were not equipped by Skoda.

Which brings to my original thesis – Skoda - story of Skoda as a footnote in Indian market continues. And so does the story of India in Skoda’s plans as an afterthought.

As someone said… if Skoda’s ambitions are limited to some 300/month sales, then maybe this sub par launch effort is par for that ambition. But what an opportunity loss for the underdog to have a seat in the high table. It may serve well for a suit in the local Skoda leadership to get some additional sparkles in their bonuses, when they meet those meagre numbers. But the brand loses out. Kodiaq is lost in intent and in identity, somewhere between those two ends of the spectrum of the utilitarian (or muscular)7 seaters and the aspirational German logos.

Enough said, lest I be seen to be moaning too much. But I do have a temporary bitterness, as my search is back to square one.

[Neelavi]

Most likely they priced it to keep enough margins to be able to offer discounts later on. The initial buyers pay the full price which helps them recover the investments and then they can either offer discounts or add features to push the sales.

[Nishant345]

Originally Posted by sunikkat

I was not considering EVs when I made the comparison. Even after discounted pricing there will be minimun 20 lakhs difference between Q5 and Kodiaq in cities like Bangalore. 3 GL, though a sedan, would still be ~15 lakhs more.

You are underestimating Audi discounts.

You can get a new Q5 Premium Plus close to the Kodiaq L&K. Technology variant for a couple of lacs more. Immense value in my opinion considering how ambitiously the Kodiaq is priced.

[axe_deo]

A fresh new launch in 2025 got to have ADAS suite of safety features . Even the facelift JEEP Meridien got ADAS last year. Without ADAS and DCC, the price is totally unjustified. Hope these features are added sooner than later.
May be they have kept the ADAS and DCC for the CBU Kodiaq diesel to be launched soon. But, that may be priced at least 8-10 lakh more than the CKD Kodiaq TSI.

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by Nishant345

You are underestimating Audi discounts.

You can get a new Q5 Premium Plus close to the Kodiaq L&K. Technology variant for a couple of lacs more. Immense value in my opinion considering how ambitiously the Kodiaq is priced.

As said buddy, unfortunately not in Bangalore. The lowest I have seen for a Q5 here is 70 lakhs for Premium Plus variant, which actual OTR is around 85 lakhs. Even A4 and Q3 doesn’t have same kind of discounts what we see in other parts of India. And a difference of 15 to 20 lakhs will definitely be a deal breaker for many.

My point is Kodiaq is overpriced, no doubt about it. But I think it will still do 200 to 250 units monthly. This was the same number previous gen was doing and cars like Tucson does lesser than this (even with multiple engine options and being cheaper).

[GeeTee TSI]

Lovely review of a lovely car.

Does this make the Kodiaq the most expensive car in India currently without ADAS? It does not bode well for customers to read about the driver assistance features in the owner's manual (to know exactly what they missed in India)

[beemer5499]

Originally Posted by praveen789

All the media houses reviewing this on Youtube seem to have been given a standard script (including mentioning stupid accessories like the screen cleaning bar and the umbrella as being 'simply clever'). No one is really talking about the missed features in a negative manner (probably again on the warning of Skoda) and are just harping on the mild positives.

By the way, the Mahindra BEVs too are getting the very same screen cleaning bar during delivery of the car along with microfiber towels and a mug. I had first received this screen cleaning bar from Audi.

Also, as per Gagan Chaudhary’s review Skoda did not activate ADAS in the Kodiaq as they haven’t calibrated it for India yet their global parent Volkswagen is giving ADAS in the Tiguan.

These companies share hardware, designs, everything why can’t they share software?

Originally Posted by sunikkat

I was not considering EVs when I made the comparison. Even after discounted pricing there will be minimun 20 lakhs difference between Q5 and Kodiaq in cities like Bangalore. 3 GL, though a sedan, would still be ~15 lakhs more.

Like how Nishant345 said, Audi discounts are crazy. The 261 bhp Q5 is currently an outgoing car and can be had for around 60L mark on road for the premium plus. One of my friends got Q5 Technology for 62L including exchange bonus, discounts, some trade chamber discount, etc. In comparison, Kodiaq L&K is priced at 56L on road in Delhi.

Also, my brother did get a 330Li for around 60L in Bangalore (registered in another state)

Originally Posted by Nishant345

You are underestimating Audi discounts.

You can get a new Q5 Premium Plus close to the Kodiaq L&K. Technology variant for a couple of lacs more. Immense value in my opinion considering how ambitiously the Kodiaq is priced.

Exactly Audi’s can have discounts ranging from 12-20 lakhs on their models.

[avinash_clt]

Originally Posted by beemer5499

Also, as per Gagan Chaudhary’s review Skoda did not activate ADAS in the Kodiaq as they haven’t calibrated it for India yet their global parent Volkswagen is giving ADAS in the Tiguan.

These companies share hardware, designs, everything why can’t they share software?

This would have more to do with cost and time involved in specific homologation requirements which the Kodiaq has to meet (being a CKD) and the Tiguan doesn't need to do (being a CBU brought under the limited annual volume).

Base software + hardware would indeed be similar for these shared platform cars, with minor parameter tuning accounting for the difference in physical attributes.

Cost overheads in VW group are significant and that 'simple' re-calibration in Kodiaq, along with cost/time efforts may have been overruled by the German R&D / homologation divisions's internal invoice to Skoda

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by beemer5499

Also, my brother did get a 330Li for around 60L in Bangalore (registered in another state)

This is surprising for me, as 2 of my friends walked out of deal as both the dealers were not ready to go below 72 lakhs for 330 Li MSport Pro. Still the dealer did not reduce the price further. And this happened in Dec 2024. Effective Sept 2024 BMW dealers in Karnataka have got in to some price protection not to undercut each other.

Might be because this was registered in different state, but I thought BMW does not allow different state registration. So this 60 lakhs OTR for 330Li in Bangalore is indeed a surprising thing.

On another note, a Q5 with 15 lakhs discount for Premium Plus will still cost 70 lakhs which is a big jump from Kodiaq (Sportline).

[Utsav_199]

On the pricing - we need to accept the new positioning of Skoda i.e 70%-80% price of an Audi. This seems to be the new strategy everywhere including in Europe.

While the brand started at a 50% of Audi price point for somewhat equivalent product quality (25-30 lakh A4, 10-15 lakh Octavia/Laura), it did not have the brand recall it enjoys today, not in India and not globally either. That was early 2000s and early 2010s, remember the brand was rescued in the 1990s and had to undercut equivalent VWs (even though the base quality was similar) and it took them all these years to finally prove that the worth of their products was somewhat comparable to equivalent Audis and then finally milk them -- the power of establishing a brand.

What started as a VW golf, Audi A4 quality products at a slight premium to Hyundais, are now being targeted as slightly more affordable Audis. The slight premium to Hyundai models are actually just that, 3rd world targeted cars, platforms and components i.e India 2.0. For the better part of 2 decades we got value luxury, now we get slightly discounted luxury (not sure that term makes sense).