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On June 18, SAIC Volkswagen Skoda brand new Kodiak officially launched. Among them, Kodiak launched a total of 4 models, the official price is 18.69- 243,900 yuan; Kodiak GT launched a total of 2 models, the official price is 203,900 yuan, 243,900 yuan respectively. With reference to the current models on sale, the price range of Kodiak is 177,900 - 247,900 yuan, the price range of Kodiak GT is 191,900 - 247,900 yuan, and the new models are increased by 9,000 yuan and 12,000 yuan respectively.

In terms of appearance, the brand-new Kodiak adopts the modeling style of overseas RS sports version, the front air intake grille adopts radial three-dimensional straight waterfall design, the contour is supplemented by chrome strip embellishment, the split headlight adopts blackened treatment, and with the three-stage lower air intake grille, the whole is more three-dimensional. Kodiak GT is a big back shape, the front face does not adopt RS model design style, and in order to highlight the sports attributes, the whole car has no chrome trim, all black decoration style looks cooler. In terms of size, the length, width and height of Kodiak are 4701/1883/1676mm respectively, the length, width and height of GT version are 4634/1883/1649mm respectively, and the wheelbase is 2791 mm.

In terms of interior decoration, Kodiak has been replaced with a brand-new large size central control screen, and both sides of the central control screen have also been upgraded to touch buttons. The overall feeling of the new steering wheel style is stronger. In addition, MOS 3.X brand-new generation intelligent car connection system is standard in the whole series, which is the first time that this system has been applied to SAIC Volkswagen Skoda model. It has AVATAR artificial intelligence partner, intelligent service of life scene, self-driving road book, driving video recording and photographing and other vehicle and entertainment functions.

In terms of power, the brand-new Kodiak is equipped with 2.0T high and low power engine, with maximum power of 137kw/162kw and peak torque of 320N·m/350N·m. The transmission system is matched with 7-speed wet dual clutch gearbox. Among them, the 2.0T high-power version matches the timely four-wheel drive system, and the low-power version is the two-wheel drive version. Skoda Kodiak is positioned as a medium-sized SUV, built on the same platform as SAIC Volkswagen Tiguan L. In terms of overall price, Kodiak competitors include Chevrolet Explorer, Ford EVOS, Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 Rongfang and other models.

Skoda is one of the brands of the German Volkswagen Group, headquartered in Czech Mlada-Boleslav, and is one of the four oldest car manufacturers in the world. According to official data, Skoda sold 878,200 cars worldwide in 2021, down 12.6% year-on-year. As the largest automobile market in the world, Skoda Automobile performs very poorly in the domestic market. As the layout of SAIC Volkswagen in the middle and low-end market, its presence in the domestic market is getting lower and lower. Official figures show that Skoda sold only 71,200 vehicles in China in 2021, down 58.8% year-on-year.

In April 2005, ŠKODA AUTO cooperated with Shanghai Volkswagen Automobile Co., Ltd. to open the road of domestic production of Skoda cars. In September 2006, ŠKODA brand was officially launched and announced its Chinese name "Skoda Automobile", becoming the second brand under SAIC Volkswagen. In June 2007, Octavia, the first strategic model of SAIC Skoda, was officially launched. In December 2008, the second model of SAIC Skoda Fabia Jingrui was officially launched. In August 2009, the second model of SAIC Skoda Superb was officially launched.

Since Skoda entered China, it has been endorsed by "German quality", and the label "Shanghai Volkswagen Skoda" has become a symbol of Skoda's identity in the Chinese market, although it is a Czech automobile brand acquired by Volkswagen Group. Especially after entering 2010, Skoda accelerated its product layout, growing rapidly from three to six models, bringing significant sales growth to Kodak. As of 2016, Skoda has a market share of 1.8% in China. It can be said that during the decade from 2005 to 2016, Skoda was the best time in the Chinese market.

In order to gain more say, Skoda shares SAIC Volkswagen. In July 2016, the tail label of Skoda's domestic models changed from "SAIC Volkswagen" to "SAIC Skoda" to strengthen the uniqueness of Skoda brand. Skoda, after changing its standard, began to change its product development strategy and no longer took cost performance as its propaganda point. In 2017, SAIC Skoda launched SUV strategy. In April 2017, the first medium-sized SUV Kodiak was officially launched. In November 2017, the new compact SUV Croc was officially launched. In June 2018, the new compact SUV Comic was officially launched. However, with the introduction of more and more domestic products by Volkswagen and the rapid rise of China's independent brands, Skoda gradually declined in sales volume. In 2017, Skoda sold 333,000 vehicles in China, up 0.8% year-on-year. At this point, Skoda sales in China have shown signs of slowing down. According to the data, Skoda sold 282,000, 173,000 and 71,200 vehicles in China from 2019 to 2021 respectively. According to the latest insurance figures, the sales volume of Skoda brand in China from January to May 2022 was only 19255 vehicles, down 65.2% year-on-year, and the market share was only 0.2%.

Affected by the epidemic situation, the domestic automobile market is undergoing subtle changes, Dongfeng Renault delisting, North-South Mazda merger, Dongfeng Yueda Kia another Ming Lord, GAC Fick factory, Shenlong automobile transfer factory... These undoubtedly ring the alarm bell for Skoda, and the rise of independent brands is deeply encouraging joint venture brands... As Skoda backed by Volkswagen, it has fallen into a dilemma at present, perhaps for Skoda or SAIC Volkswagen, Skoda has been unable to go up. And selling as many cars as possible down may be SAIC Volkswagen's last expectation.

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