Skoda '09 China sales double to 123,000 cars

Skoda, the Czech subsidiary of German automaker Volkswagen Group, more than doubled its sales to 123,000 units in China last year, a staggering achievement for such a newcomer.

Though a century-old brand, Skoda entered China's market just three years ago as a part of Shanghai Volkswagen's dual-brand strategy.

Skoda now makes three models at the Sino-German joint venture - the compact Octavia Mingrui, the subcompact Fabia Jingrui and the mid-sized Superb Haorui.

All three have performed well as segment leaders and contributed to Skoda's rapid growth.

In the middle of 2007, Skoda introduced its first locally built model, the Octavia Mingrui, and sold 27,112 units in just half a year.

By the end of 2008 that single model ranked in the top three in the A-class high-end market as sales surged 117 percent to nearly 60,000 units.

Skoda then launched the Fabia Jingrui the same year that has turned out to be one of the fastest-growing models in the A0-class segment. The subcompact now has stable monthly sales of more than 3,000 units.

In August last year, Skoda put its flagship model Superb Haorui into the B-class market. It also quickly gained in popularity with monthly sales surpassing 3,000 units in the highly competitive medium- and high-end segment.

With the three models, Skoda has built up a product line that covers China's mainstream markets, the company said.

Skoda's 2009 full-year sales jumped 108 percent, twice the growth rate of the country's overall passenger vehicle market. According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, passenger vehicles sales increased by 53 percent to 10.33 million units last year.

Peter Miling, Skoda brand chief at Shanghai Volkswagen, said in an earlier interview that China is expected to surpass Germany to be Skoda's largest market in the world this year.

Sales have already exceeded 200,000 units since it entered the China market.

In order to better meet the demands of domestic customers, Skoda revamped and upgraded the existing models last year.

It has also built a sales network of 235 dealerships and showrooms across China. The company said it will greatly expand the network this year to further boost sales.

Skoda now accounts for one-sixth of total sales for Shanghai Volkswagen, which once again was the nation's champion last year with total sales of 729,000 units.