First half of 2012 positive for Skoda

Skoda has had a positive start to 2012 with fleet sales up 19% year to date.

Robert English, national fleet sales manager at Skoda, said: “It’s really good news for us with the market being up ever so slightly.

“We’re maintaining a very healthy 2.4% fleet market share. We’re aspiring to hit 2.5% and that’s not long after becoming a 2% player.”

Skoda’s first city car the Citigo, which was available to drive at Company Car In Action (CCIA), went on sale at the beginning of June with sales of more than 400 units to date.

Skoda’s ambition for the year is sales of 3,880.

The Citigo’s launch marks the start of a period when Skoda has a new model or facelift every six months.

In November the Rapid will be launched. It sits between the Fabia and Octavia, marking another new segment for the brand.

“The Rapid was one of Skoda’s first cars,” English said. “It goes right back to our heritage.”

A new Octavia will be launched in March next year with facelifts for other models throughout the year.

Skoda is also focusing on dealer training.

Earlier this year it launched its ‘Fit for Fleet’ initiative with 40 of its 132-dealer network focused on fleet.

The dealers have now been through an extensive training period which covered areas such as prospecting, selling finance to business users and presenting wholelife costs.

Workshops are now being held, encouraging dealers to share what has and hasn’t worked and what their training needs are for the future.

“We’re working together, we’re not saying ‘right, we’ll train you on everything and off you go, you should know what you’re doing’,” English said.

“We’re trying to embody coaching and partnership with our network.”