It has been ages since I have written an article, but with my knee broken, it seems to be a good time to get back into some ancient media practices!
I recently drove the newly launched Kodiaq RS and I was genuinely impressed with it. But all of the acronyms and fancy science words apart, the thing us Indians look at the most are the numbers which will leave your pocket, and the Kodiaq RS will take a lot of them.
After a brief conversation with Skoda India’s Marketing Head, my hunch that the car will be priced 65-70L was more or less, on the money. And while many people will whine and crib about the ridiculous pricing, there is good reason for the expensive price tag.
Ever since January where the Kodiaq RS was first showcased at Skoda’s annual press conference, Trump waged war on Iran, our brilliant government has been absolutely milking us and overall, the situation financially just seems to be going downhill. Shipping prices, taxes and costs to manufacture are just going up, so even if Skoda wanted to, they cannot drop the price.
While on call, the Saurabh from Skoda told me a great point, which made a lot of sense. If you go to buy a Rolex anywhere in the world, high possibility that the price in your country and in any other country, would be the same. Same with the Kodiaq RS, since it is their flagship product internationally, they want to maintain a certain product reputation.
Moreover, if you compare UK prices and Indian prices, the Kodiaq RS is fairly close to what people are paying in the UK. But is it more bang for your buck is the real question, especially when the Octavia RS is almost 10L cheaper.
It totally depends on your personal use case. The Octy drives better, looks better (in my opinion) and still carries a ton of luggage and people. The Kodiaq? Ofcourse, it is much larger, can carry more people, luggage? Maybe not. But driving, it has its own pros and cons.
Since the Kodiaq RS is AWD, it gives consistency and confidence, even more than the Octavia, pair that to the DCC Plus, this car truly feels like a giant hatch on stilts. But, you still cannot tackle mass, the Kodiaq RS weighs nearly 300kgs more than the Octy, and after absolutely pushing it, you can start to feel that “SUV” driving dyanmic even with all of that wizardry.
But here’s the thing, the Kodiaq RS isn’t meant to be some sort of a canyon maestro. It is a plush, premium, performance family SUV, which will perfectly scratch your midlife crisis itch, and the numbers support it. The first lot of these cars (50 units) is already sold out. It seems like a lot of middle aged Indians couldn’t convince their wife to sit in a bright green, low-slung Octavia VRS but could somehow hide the same RS badge on the Kodiaq. And in the end, if the Kodiaq RS makes you happy, that’s all that matters.
