Market Insight: Superb to go it alone

During an interview with GoAuto at the launch of the all-new Superb in Canberra last week, Skoda Australia director Lucie Kuhn said the decision to offer the model in a shrinking segment was one that could prove beneficial for Skoda in the longer term. 

“If you were to look purely at the numbers and seeing a decline in the (large <$70K) segment, you would think that it might not make sense anymore, because that segment is not there (in the numbers it once was),” she explained. 

“But when you look at it from a broader perspective, and understanding we still have customers that want to drive a car from in this segment, we evaluated this (decision) as having potential, and that’s why we decided to continue to offer the Superb.” 

Ms Kuhn said that despite Australia’s shrinking passenger car segment – and the obvious preference of Australian buyers for SUVs – vehicles including the Skoda Fabia, Scala, Octavia, and Superb would continue to play an important role for the brand, particularly among private buyers. 

“Australia is following a global trend (in moving away from passenger cars), but this has allowed up to make the car (Superb) our own … it has allowed us to find a pragmatic solution, one we believe will help the Superb find its customer,” Ms Kuhn told GoAuto. 

“In Australia, we expect a higher focus on retail (private) sales. A 60:40 split is our expectation, which goes against the global trend of fleet (business) sales dominating at 30:70. 

“We think the Superb customer is someone who decides not to go for the SUV, and who wants to drive something that makes sense for them, and that offers more space and better value. 

“For them, like us, this is about owning a flagship that doesn’t wear a prestige badge. It’s not always about volume,” she concluded. 

The decision comes as Australia's market for large passenger vehicles priced under $70K continues to decline. 

Once the home of the Australian-made Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore, the segment hosted seven entrants a decade ago, including the likes of the Nissan Maxima, Peugeot 508, and Toyota Aurion. 

At the end of the 2015 sales year, the sub-$70K part of the large passenger vehicle market saw total sales of 39,159 units. A decade earlier, that number was 153,244. 

Moving ahead to 2024, the segment total was just 192 units, almost all achieved by the Skoda Superb (153). 

Across the 10-year timeframe, the numbers amount to a reduction of 96.2 per cent. 

While the decline is not as dramatic on the other side of the price divide, sales have fallen from 4781 units in the above-$70K large passenger segment during 2015 to just 1959 units at the end of 2024. 

Large passenger vehicle sales 2015-25*: 

*All sales data supplied courtesy of VFACTS. 

^Forecast figures based upon YTD sales.