Skoda, the Czech automaker has rolled out the 500,000th Yeti in the market. The vehicle is manufactured at the Kvasiny plant which is among the three production facilities in the Czech republic. The SUV yeti was first introduced in the year 2009 and got a facelift in 2013. Skoda says that the vehicle is produced in various countries including China, Russia, India and Europe.
Talking in detail, in China, the vehicle is manufactured in the Shanghai production plant. While in Russia, the vehicle is produced in co-operation with the Russian manufacturer GAZ group at the Nizhny Novgorod facility. As per its Indian production plans, Yeti is locally assembled through CKD kits at the Skoda manufacturing plant located at Aurangabad, Maharashtra.
The facelift version of Yeti was introduced in the year 2014 for a price of INR 18.63 lac. This was earlier showcased at the Delhi Auto Expo 2014. Skoda also offered an all-wheel drive model named as Yeti Elegance 4x4 at a price tag of INR 20.14 lac.
On the outside, Skoda Yeti features a new sporty radiator grille and a refreshed front bumper. Bonnet too is restyled while the fog lamps are also new. The headlamp is Bi-Xenon and the vehicle adopts an LED tail lamp cluster. The ORVMs are new with blinkers while for the side, it embraces sporty alloy wheels. Skoda Yeti was introduced in a total of seven color options and in three roof options for the buyers to choose from.
Taking a quick glance on the inside, Yeti SUV sports plush interiors with leather wrapped steering wheel and high-quality seat covers. Other features included in the vehicle are the Cruise control system, sport keyless entry, upgraded music system, electrically adjustable driver seats, push start/stop button and new tyre pressure monitoring system.
Under the hood, Skoda Yeti facelift is powered by the 2.0 TDI unit with two power outputs. The 2WD model churns out the power output of 108.5 bhp and a peak torque of 250 Nm. On the other hand, its 4WD model generates power output of 138 bhp and a peak torque of 320 Nm. The 2WD mill comes mated to a 5-speed manual transmission and the all-wheel drive model is coupled with a 6-speed manual transmission.
Skoda India also recently launched its new Octavia Anniversary Edition in the market at a price of INR 15.75 lac. The new Octavia Anniversary Edition comes with additional features like the rear view camera, engine start-stop button, keyless entry, gearshift controls on steering wheel and the rear side airbags. The new Octavia now receives 8 airbags and for the very first time, it incorporates the SmartLink function in the country.
Besides this, the car maker also launched Octavia Style Plus trim in the market and it comes in two new avatars. One is the Elegance and another one is the Ambition. Petrol version of Style Trim is priced INR 19.80 lac while the diesel version is available for the price of INR 21.23 lac. The move was to bring in some good sales numbers in the festive season.
As per Skoda Yeti in India, despite of the facelift, the car hasn't met the expectations of the maker. The next generation model will come in 2016 and hopefully this time the demand would be greater than what the company has seen so far.