Skoda plans to enter small car market... Can they beat Nissan's 3000$ car?

SkodaIndia, a fully-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen Group’s SkodaAuto of Czech Republic, on 27 June revealed the company’s plan to launch Skoda Fabia, its first small car in the Indian market.
“We are planning to launch the car by the end of this year. Fabia is very well accepted globally and with our experience in the car business, we are confident of receiving a similar response from the Indian customers as well,” Skoda India Managing Director (Commercial) Karsten Bogun said.
Bogun was talking to reporters here after the opening of the company’s new dealership in Vadodara and Ahmedabad.
“Skoda India is glad to bring two new dealership to Gujarat, the most industrialised state in India today. We do believe that these dealership will play a vital role in increasing our costumers in Gujarat and will also help us to achieve a bigger market here,” he said.
He said the company plans to expand its dealer network to 58 across the country by end of this year.
In the last five years SkodaIndia has sold over 43,000 units. This year the company has set a sale target of 17,000 units.
The company has a plant in Aurangabad district in Maharashtra, spread across 300,000 square meters.

Skoda,Audi Spike Volkswagen sales

Volkswagen AG, Europe's biggest automaker by sales, said Thursday that its new car sales rose 7.6 percent in the first five months of the year to 2.5 million amid rising demand in Europe and Asia.

The Wolfsburg-based company said sales of its VW-branded cars rose 7.1 percent to 1.5 million in the January-May period versus a year ago, while commercial vehicle sales rose 9 percent to 191,000.

The company's Skoda brand reported a 14 percent increase in sales to 255,000, while sales of its luxury Audi AG unit rose 9.6 percent with 420,000 models sold.

But sales by its Spanish unit, Seat, fell 1.6 percent to 180,000 from the first five months of 2006.

Sales growth was strong in Europe, where sales rose 2.9 percent to 1.58 million vehicles, and in Asia, where sales rose 20 percent to 414,000 cars.

Sales in South America and South Africa also showed gains, with deliveries up 24 percent, while in North America, the VW and Audi brands saw a 1.8 percent increase with 215,000 cars sold.

Shares of Volkswagen slipped nearly 1 percent to 114.19 euros ($153.32) in Frankfurt