Badge Ceiling?

ChrisK....._3

I never understood why VW decided to flush $billions down the toilet disguising VWs as Skoda's?????
Bizarre??? Was it for a bet???

photome

ChrisK..... wrote: »

I never understood why VW decided to flush $billions down the toilet disguising VWs as Skoda's?????
Bizarre??? Was it for a bet???

how many billions did they flush down the toilet taking over Skoda, or are you just making stuff up as usual

NaughtiusMaximus

Sir_Stanley_Hubris wrote: »

Afraid I'm both a badge snob and a dinosaur and wouldn't buy a Skoda for that kind of money as I still consider them a semi-budget brand. You'd get a seriously good second hand Audi / BMW for that kind of money I guess.
It would be interesting to know what younger people think though (say under 30s) - those who have grown up NOT knowing Skoda as a very budget brand but as a serious rally team.

Even when their road cars were a complete joke in the 80s, Skoda still had a decent rally team in the sub-1300cc class.

fred246 wrote: »

I remember going to Prague in the early 80s when it was very much in the Eastern bloc. There was a motor factor type shop at the end of the road. In the window was every part you could imagine for a Skoda. Everyone drove a Skoda. If one broke down all the men would crowd round to fix it. It encouraged me to buy common cars with good parts availability.

I went to Prague in 1996, I was amazed how many Skoda 100/110s were still on the road then, 19 years after the last one was assembled. My dad used to own one in the early 80s, at the time I went to Prague I hadn't seen one in Britain for years.

Johnmcl7

ChrisK..... wrote: »

I never understood why VW decided to flush $billions down the toilet disguising VWs as Skoda's?????
Bizarre??? Was it for a bet???

You are incorrect in stating that VW 'flushed billions down the toilet' with Skoda, they were a logical investment and now one of VW's biggest earners with only Porsche doing better.

VW want you to buy a car from them so it makes sense for them to offer a range of brands which if they didn't offer would mean you'd go elsewhere which is a sale lost. VW is their standard brand, if you want something more premium you have the Audi option, if you want something sporty there are the Seats and if you want something better value for money, you have Skoda. The lack of a desirable badge works in VW's favour as it meant they could offer a cheaper car without cannibalising sales from the VW vehicles.

As time has gone on and more people have realised what Skoda is and the value for money, Skoda's position has been adjusted and they're not the bargain they used to be still selling well so clearly it's working for VW.

Herzlos

I've got a skoda, really quite like it. It's dull but does the job, more or less identical to VW but a fair chunk cheaper due to badge snobs.

I'd buy another, including that £43k variant, if it was the sort of thing I wanted and was in budget. They'll probably be sub £15k at 3 years old and could be a real steal.

I'm old enough to remember jokes about skoda being junk but not old enough to have any direct experience of the junk skodas.

Nearly_Old

We've recently replaced our everyday car (16 year old Citroen C5 2.2hdi 148,000 miles) with a year old 4,700 mile Octavia We did try quite a few options Mazda/Vauxhall/Toyota?etc but for the everyday car the Skoda in our view gave the best overall value.

It's got cruise control which was a must have but I have to turn the lights and wipers on using switches! Still no sensors, etc to go wrong. The only thing I miss is the heated wing mirrors. Also I can get 3 people and golf clubs in with no problems! I don't see it as boring to me it's more it gets the job done without any fuss. We've got two other cars for fun.


I also know someone who currently has an X5 approaching 150,000 miles who is seriously looking at the Skoda Kodiaq as a replacement but the slightly cheaper Sportline 2.0 petrol as the 43K VRS is diesel only.

ChrisK....._3

You can't measure how much it has cost VW to sell VWs as Skoda's. And the fact that I have had to spoon fed it suggests you don't understand the question, and if you don't understand the question then any responses you make are redundant, so I'll just ignore them

photome wrote: »

how many billions did they flush down the toilet taking over Skoda, or are you just making stuff up as usual

photome

ChrisK..... wrote: »

You can't measure how much it has cost VW to sell VWs as Skoda's. And the fact that I have had to spoon fed it suggests you don't understand the question, and if you don't understand the question then any responses you make are redundant, so I'll just ignore them

Wow, even more bizarre than you 3 questions, which you have declined to answer as you are clearly wrong

Car_54

ChrisK..... wrote: »

You can't measure how much it has cost VW to sell VWs as Skoda's. And the fact that I have had to spoon fed it suggests you don't understand the question, and if you don't understand the question then any responses you make are redundant, so I'll just ignore them

The partnership with (and later takeover of) Skoda was part of an incredibly successful strategy which took VW from a niche producer of quaint rear-engined cars to be the world's biggest carmaker. Arguably priceless.

motorguy

maxmycardagain wrote: »

Im a Skoda Superb owner (again) and laugh at badge snobs...

ive got A3 legroom and MORE legroom than an Eclass merc and i get 55mpg....

and its cheaper to service and repair than either

Are you a taxi driver?

Cant otherwise think why excessive rear legroom would be of importance?

I'd a 2016 Passat that i bought at a year old (for less than the equivalent Superb) and it was huge. Too big in fact. Cant think why bigger than that would be better.

I honestly dont get Skoda as a brand. Their cars are close to VW pricing and you end up driving a car thats perceived as a value brand car that you've bought cheap, when you havent.