Skoda plans to enter ‘top 10’ “without cannibalizing Seat”

The brand’s network has achieved a historic profit margin of 2.7%

The general manager of Skoda Spain,
Fidel Jimenez de Pargaconsiders himself “a lucky man to be in the right place at the right time”, the results achieved so far in 2022 endorse it, as its dealer network has reached an all-time high in terms of profitability, with a closed the third quarter with a pre-tax profit margin of 2.7%.

For reference, the average of the rest of the Spanish dealers has stood at 1.98% so far. For the administrator,
the goal is to consolidate the results of the network, which has expanded its outlets in the Iberian Peninsula to 67, “is reaching points where other ‘top 10’ brands were and we were not, like Olot or Figueras”.

But these are not the only goals the manager has set for himself. Among them is reaching a market share of about 5% (currently it is about 2.7%), something they believe can be achieved in less than a decade without too many headaches.

Hitting these numbers would be tantamount to putting Skodaof the top 10 best selling brands of the Spanish market, something that the brand wants to repeat in other arenas in southern Europe. “We still have a lot of homework to do in these countries,” he laments, citing Germany as an example, where his brand is the only non-German emblem in the top five.

To reach these numbers in Spain
they should register about 50,000 units per year, something that will only be possible once the market has recovered and returns to the normal course of 1.2 million registrations.

Over the past two years, Skoda has performed exceptionally as the most profitable brand in the volume segment of the Volkswagen Group. On the other hand, its Spanish ‘rival’ Seat, with which it competes in terms of price and finish, has not yet returned to positive figures.

This, taking into account that Seat has not received a product announcement and that Skoda has confirmed three launches of electric models for the years 2024, 2025 and 2026,
casts doubt on the future of the Spanish emblem. However, Jiménez de Parga has maintained that “he is not interested in cannibalizing Seat to increase its market share”, preferring to attack other brands belonging to rival groups.

For now, to support growth in Spain, the brand will focus on boosting its used vehicle business, aiming to double its current volumes, which are around 6,000 cars per year. In addition, it believes that its electric models are also key to its success and has already asked for Enyaq SUV volumes to be tripled, from 500 in 2022 to around 1,500 in 2023.

If Skoda exemplifies anything, it’s its ability to overcome adversity.
From the brands of the Volkswagen Grouphas been most affected by the war in Ukraine, as Russia was the second largest market and about 10% of its annual sales volume.

So far this year, deliveries of the Czech brand have fallen by 20%, but sales have grown by 14% to 15,000 million euros. The operating result to September amounted to 856 million euros, a decrease of 5%.

However, the builder is in a good moment: its order book waits an average of four months – in Spain this figure is just 10,000 units, something that had never happened before -, which means that « the demand for vehicles is doubling
the capacity of the factories», something that will allow them to maintain good margins in the future.

Source: La Verdad

Ida

I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.