Skoda CitiGo small car not coming to India anytime soon says Skoda India top executive!

The Skoda CitiGo small car, a rebadged Volkswagen Up! has been making waves across continents as this car is expected to be the next big thing in urban mobility from Skoda as it offers a combination of a low entry price, high fuel economy and low emissions in a well rounded, solidly built product. For a while now, Skoda India has been talking about a sub-Fabia hatchback to capitalize on the ever growing Indian small car market.

Skoda CitiGo Hatchback

The Skoda CitiGo however will not hit Indian shores in the near future and it seems that, is at least a year or two away from an Indian launch. A Skoda India top executive has reportedly told NDTV’s Siddharth Vinayak Patankar that Skoda does not even plant to showcase the Skoda CitiGo at the upcoming 2012 Indian Auto Expo, a place where most if not all automakers in India showcase their upcoming products for the Indian market.

Skoda India not showcasing the CitiGo at the 2012 Auto Expo is quite significant as this could mean that the brand will wait for Volkswagen India to first launch the Up! in India, after which Skoda could follow suit with the CitiGo. Considering that the Volkswagen Up! in itself will not become a reality for the Indian market until 2013, the Skoda CitiGo hatchback could be launched even later. The CitiGo, will sit under the Volkswagen Up! in terms of price positioning.

Apart from stylistic changes to distinguish it from the Volkswagen Up! Hatchback, the CitiGo features the same 1 Liter, three cylinder petrol engine as the Volkswagen Up!, available in two different states of tune, 59 Bhp and 74 Bhp. With that, folks waiting anticipating a Skoda sub-Fabia small car in 2012, may go in for other cars in the segment like the Maruti A-Star or the Hyundai i10 rather than waiting for the Skoda CitiGo Hatchback which clearly more than a year away.