Skoda Slavia Launch Date Revealed: 1.0-litre Variant To Be Launched Initially

The launch dates of the Skoda Slavia sedan was revealed by Zac Hollis (Director, Sales and Marketing for Skoda Auto India) via Twitter.

Speaking about Skoda Slavia, it is the upcoming sedan that will replace the ageing Skoda Rapid in India and the Czech brand's second model in India to be built under the 'India 2.0' strategy.

Speaking about this strategy, Skoda aims to set up a profitable business in the country by aggressively localizing the production as much as possible thus reducing the cost of production to a minimum level.

This strategy will not only benefit Skoda, but it will benefit the job market in the country as it will open a lot of job opportunities in the field of automobiles.

That being said, the Skoda Slavia is a size bigger than the Skoda Rapid, thanks to its versatile MQB-A0 IN platform, which is the same platform that underpins the Skoda Kushaq SUV.

As the upcoming Skoda Slavia and the recently introduced Skoda Kushaq use an identical platform, the upcoming Skoda Slavia also uses the same powertrain options as the Skoda Kushaq.

The Skoda Slavia is powered by two engine options. The 1.0-litre TSI petrol engine produces 113bhp of peak power and 178Nm of peak torque. The other engine is a larger 1.5-litre TSI petrol engine with 150bhp of peak power and 250Nm of peak torque.

Like the Skoda Kushaq, the upcoming Skoda Slavia will also come with a choice of manual and automatic transmissions irrespective of the engine options. While both engine variants share the 6-speed manual transmission, the automatic transmissions differ in both the 1.0-litre TSI and 1.5-litre TSI variants.

While the Skoda Slavia equipped with the 1.0-litre TSI engine gets the 6-speed torque converter automatic gearbox, the Skoda Slavia equipped with the 1.5-litre TSI engine comes equipped with a more advanced and a sportier 7-speed DSG transmission.

We expect Skoda Auto India to price the upcoming Skoda Slavia aggressively and offer more than decent equipment levels. However, the sedan will be priced a smidge above the current ex-showroom price of the Skoda Rapid.

Thoughts About The Skoda Slavia

We expect a similar level of space inside the cabin of Skoda Slavia as the Skoda Kuhaq SUV, if not more. Also, Skoda Auto India is likely to price the Skoda Slavia quite aggressively to gain much momentum in the Indian automobile market.