A sturdy Fabia tough on pricing

Czech carmaker Skoda makes an attempt at the volumeladen compact car segment in India with the launch of the ‘Fabia’ that it hopes will help it get a foothold in the mass market. Though promising a fresh dimension and a somewhat different look to the premium compact segment, Fabia seems to be missing out some key areas that make its attempt a weak one and would leave much to be desired.

First, is pricing, the most critical element in India. While Skoda seems to be trusting the premiumness of its brand and the sturdiness of the vehicle, it seems to be on a difficult wicket right from the word go as. It has promised petrol variants soon, but it
only has the 1.4-litre diesel versions for the moment and cost more than possible contenders like Suzuki Swift and Hyundai Getz.
Though it comes with tubeless tyres, climate control, power steering, power windows and four-way adjustment for the steering, all this seems to be a little too less to pull droves towards the model.
With very little localisation, the car could be a difficult to maintain with spares expected to be expensive.
Apart from the base version ‘Fabia Classic’, the middle-level version ‘Ambiente’ comes with good features like ABS, alloys, fog lamps. The top-end version of the car, ‘Elegance’, promises a sun roof, apart from the ABS and airbags and the 6-CD changer.
Skoda also needs to do some homework to make good some of the features it offers on the car. Like the reverse parking sensors do not seem to working when we tested the car and somewhat failed to do their job — that is assist in parking safely. Again, despite the high pricing, the car does not impress much with the interiors. A touch of wood would have done
good to add the premiumness Skoda wanted to attach to the brand.
Also, Skoda seems to have forgotten to provide a good ground clearance to the car and just provides for a metal plate below the engine to protect the car from the bumps, that are so-very-common in India. The engine also sounds noisy though the car remains sturdy and smooth even at speeds of 165 kph, which we tried. The ABS comes in handy and there seems to be little trouble in screeching to a halt suddenly if the need arises with the ABS coming in handy.
At a high price and with a good sturdy vehicle, the company would have done good by providing features like cruise control.
FAB SPECS
Three diesel variants priced from Rs 7.04-Rs 8.5 lakh (exshowroom Delhi)
Powered by a 1.4 litre TDI diesel engine
Standard version comes with features like tubeless tyres, dual airbags, climate control
Petrol versions yet to be launched and expected to be Rs 50,000 cheaper than diesel -Times of India