AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)08/31 Report--

On August 31st, Skoda officially released a new brand logo and a new car concept map, which will be applied to Skoda models in 2023.

From the newly released new LOGO, Skoda, like many current car brands, adopts a flat and minimalist design style. Skoda's new logo LOGO uses a more flat design style, while the tone uses a large area of emerald green and electric green, representing green environmental protection and sustainable development. Compared with the old and new designs, the new logo with winged arrows and round main elements, but removed the metal texture elements and the text logo "S" above the "S" symbol, the beginning letter S and the ending letter A use a unified gap as a new visual language, the new logo looks more concise.

Along with the announcement of the new brand logo, Skoda also released a new VISION 7s concept car. The new car is based on the Volkswagen MEB platform, uses the brand-new Modern Solid design language, and locates the 7-seat medium and large SUV. In terms of appearance, the front face of the new car is surrounded by a large size, with a seven-hole intake grille under it, with a more eye-catching red painting in the middle, and a through light belt on the front cabin cover, with LED lights on both sides. The side of the car. The new car will feature a cross-border SUV-like design with smooth overall lines, wide eyebrows protruding outward and equipped with 22-inch rims. In the rear part, the shape of the new car taillight basically echoes with the front face, increasing the degree of recognition.

In the interior part, the new car is equipped with a 14.6-inch central control screen, an 8.8-inch LCD meter, a rounded rectangular steering wheel and a physical button on the front center console. In terms of power, the new car is equipped with 89kWh batteries and supports 200kW fast charging, and the mileage under WLTP conditions is greater than that of 600km.

Skoda is scheduled to launch three all-electric models in 2026, including a small sedan, a compact SUV and a seven-seat home SUV, with more models to follow. The VISION 7s concept car production model mentioned above is one of the three models.

This change marks the seventh time in Skoda's history that the brand identity has been changed. According to the attention of the automobile industry, Skoda is one of the classic German Volkswagen brands, founded in 1895, headquartered in the Czech Republic Mlada-Boleslav.

Although Skoda is one of the four oldest automakers in the world, it was not until 2006 that Skoda began to make China. Skoda became the third brand of Volkswagen Group to launch production in China after Volkswagen and Audi. In April 2005, coach KODA AUTO partnered with Shanghai Volkswagen Co., Ltd., and in September of the following year, the KODA brand was put into production in Shanghai Volkswagen and announced its Chinese name Skoda.

In June 2007, SAIC Skoda's first strategic model, Octavia Ming Rui, was officially launched. With its accurate positioning of household cars and higher performance-to-price ratio, Octavia Ming Rui quickly became a best-selling model in China. In December 2008, SAIC Skoda's second model, Fabia Jingrui, was officially launched. In August 2009, SAIC Skoda's second model, Superb Speedway, was officially launched. After entering 2010, Skoda accelerated its product layout, growing rapidly from three to six models, and brought sales growth to the brand. Data show that Skoda's sales in China from 2009 to 2016 were 128000, 190000, 220000, 230000, 231000, 283000, 279000 and 3300, respectively. According to statistics, Skoda has a 1.8% market share in China as of 2016.

Since then, Skoda has bought a stake in SAIC Volkswagen in order to gain more voice. In July 2016, the tail mark of Skoda domestic model changed from "SAIC Volkswagen" to "SAIC Skoda", and the product development strategy of the whole series is no longer based on performance-to-price ratio. In 2017, SAIC Skoda launched the SUV strategy, and launched its first medium-sized SUV Kodiak in April of the same year; the new compact SUV Coroc in November 2017; and the new compact SUV Cormick in June 2018. However, the expansion of the product rectangle does not make Skoda get better market performance in the future.

Skoda's cumulative sales in China rose 0.8 per cent year-on-year to 333000 vehicles in 2017, compared with 352000 in 2018, according to the data. Since then, Skoda's sales have continued to decline, with Skoda selling 282000 and 173000 vehicles in China from 2019 to 2020, respectively. Especially in 2020, Skoda's downward trend is particularly obvious, when there were only 71200 vehicles, and sales also showed a downward trend after 2022. According to the latest data, Skoda sold 26964 vehicles wholesale in China from January to July in 2022.

For Skoda's sharp decline in sales in recent years, former Volkswagen Group (China) CEO Feng Sihan once told the media that Skoda needs to reposition the market. From the newly released new car plan, Skoda's new logo will not be used until 2023 at the earliest. As early as a year ago, Skoda officially announced the "2030 strategy" according to the new car plan. Skoda plans to launch three new all-electric models by 2026, and the launch of the VISION 7s concept car will serve as a design preview of new electric vehicles in the future. Skoda plans to invest 5.6 billion euros and 700 million euros in electric travel and digital development over the next five years, making its pure electric vehicle sales account for more than 70 percent of its European sales by 2030. From this point of view, it is not realistic for Skoda to boost sales through electrified products in the short term.

Skoda's current models on sale include Mingrui, Xinrui, Komick, Kroc and Kodiak. Skoda will continue to focus on fuel models before the electrification transformation. According to the product renewal plan, Skoda will release a new generation of speed pie and Kodiak in the second half of 2023, and a revamped sharp model will be launched in 2024. As for the realization of electrification, Skoda will have what kind of market performance, waiting for the market test.

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