8 forgotten Skoda & Volkswagen cars in India: From Octavia Combi to Touareg

The car brand Volkswagen and Skoda are owned by the Volkswagen Group and both of them offer quite a few affordable models. In India, both the brands have been present for a long time now and launched quite a few vehicles that are now forgotten. Here is a list of eight such cars from the vehicles from the Volkswagen and Skoda.

Skoda Octavia Combi

Station wagons are extremely popular in European markets. However, in India, none of the station wagons that were launched did well. Skoda also launched the Octavia Combi vRS and the L&K version. The vRS variant came with a powerful 150 Bhp engine while the L&K version offered plush interiors. The Octavia Combi offered loads of space and was extremely practical.

Skoda Fabia

The Fabia was a premium hatchback that took on the likes of Hyundai Elite i20 and the Honda Jazz in the Indian market. Even though it was a mass segment car and was priced close to the Volkswagen Polo, the sales and service network of Skoda India in that time ensured the vehicle’s failure. The Fabia sold around 550 units a month before Skoda pulled the plug.

Skoda Yeti

The Skoda Yeti is a very capable SUV that did not find many buyers in the Indian market. Towards the end, Skoda started offering massive discounts of up to Rs. 2.2 lakhs on the vehicle. The Yeti was priced at around Rs. 17 lakhs but it did not offer much interior space that justified the price tag.

Skoda Laura

The first-generation Skoda Octavia became quite popular in India. So much that when Skoda launched the second-generation of the sedan in the Indian market, it decided to keep the previous generation model on sale too. The second-generation Octavia was renamed as Laura in the Indian market. It sadly has been forgotten by many now.

Volkswagen Touareg

The Volkswagen Touareg was a full-size 5-seater SUV that was imported as Completely Built Unit (CBU). It was available in the Indian market for two years and was priced at an extreme Rs. 80 lakh. The SUV did not find many buyers in the Indian market due to its steep pricing.

Volkswagen Jetta

The Volkswagen Jetta was the rebadged cousin of the Skoda Laura in the Indian market. The Jetta never became very popular in the segment but had decent sales which hovered around 300 units per month. The Skoda Laura became much more popular because of its distinctive styling whereas the Jetta looked very similar to the lower-priced Volkswagen Vento in the Indian market.

Volkswagen Phaeton

The Volkswagen Phaeton was a luxury sedan that competed with the likes of Audi A6. However, with an extremely high price tag, no one preferred it over the exclusive brands like Audi. The Phaeton was extremely loaded with features and was very reliable but it was priced at around Rs. 80 lakhs, which was a big turn off for many in the Indian market.

Volkswagen Beetle

The Volkswagen Beetle was discontinued from the global car market earlier this year. The iconic car never became as popular as the MINI Cooper in India. Volkswagen is now shifting focus to the electric cars. Volkswagen rolled out last variants of the third-generation Beetle earlier this year. The car was in the production for 80 years.