On November 15, 2021, on the 12th floor of SAIC Volkswagen's newly completed R&D center, the Skoda brand invited a small number of media to conduct a closed-door tasting session of the new Kodiak models. The purpose, of course, is to listen to the feedback from the media.

　　Kodiak is Skoda’s flagship model, with cumulative sales of nearly 200,000 vehicles. Therefore, Skoda hopes that the new Kodiak can promote the overall brand image of Skoda. Due to the signing of a non-disclosure agreement, the details of this model are not easy to disclose.

　　When asked, "When will the new Kodiak go on sale?", the newly appointed SAIC Volkswagen Skoda brand marketing executive director Ningbo said that it is expected to go on sale in the first quarter of next year, and the specific price has not yet been determined. Ningbo emphasized Skoda's usual cost-effective advantages, but said it would not pursue absolute low prices.

　　Of course, Skoda did not set a specific sales target. "The specific sales target does not make much sense. This is also limited by the supply of chips. Our top priority is to provide good customer service."

　　For the new Kodiak, Skoda hopes to do a solid job, to win the trust of more users, so that consumers can get a full service experience in the whole process of sales, car use, and additional purchases. They don’t want distribution. The movement on the business side is deformed.

　　Ningbo mentioned a concept of "products with quality, brand with temperature", "For Skoda, the most important thing in the future is whether every consumer we serve is satisfied." Skoda's next step is to focus on the layout of 150 In core cities, efforts are being made to improve users’ product and service experience.

　　New team debut

　　This time, it is Skoda's new team collective appearance. Although Skoda's sales are improving, the difficulties it faces are still well known. The new team members are not shy and sincere.

　　The first thing before the new team is that domestic car consumers are paying great attention to the "new four modernizations" such as intelligence and networking. How does Skoda respond to this trend and catch up. Regarding the current situation of Skoda, I have raised two questions:

　　First of all, under the "new four modernizations" trend that is in full swing, does Skoda have any plans for the electrification strategy? SAIC Volkswagen is mainly promoting the ID. family series of products. What should Skoda do? From the perspective of differentiation, is there any consideration for mixing and oil mixing? After all, the previous Skoda models were all fuel vehicles.

　　Ningbo said, "I think plug-in hybrid is a transitional product. Fuel vehicles must have power components, as well as new energy three-electric components. The cost is too high. However, the current level of development of new energy vehicles is not high. When will it evolve to a more mature stage? In 2025, it is estimated that 30% to 35% of the new car market will be new energy. At this time, Skoda will participate in it."

　　In this process, Skoda will build a corresponding product matrix based on the characteristics of different markets, and bring consumers new energy vehicles that can truly meet their travel needs. "As the new energy market matures, we will push some products that may not be available under the Volkswagen brand (SAIC Volkswagen) to the Chinese market. This is the new energy direction we will work hard to attack in the future."

　　And the second question I asked is that, from the perspective of the Chinese market, domestic brands have developed very fast, and they also have amazing designs. Did this touch the design of Skoda, or what measures did Skoda do to respond?

　　Ningbo has told the truth here: The speed of developing a new product by its own brand has indeed touched the change of all joint venture brands in China. "I believe that all shareholders of joint venture brands will think deeply about this issue, quickly adjust the follow-up development strategy, how to quickly respond to the needs of Chinese users, and how to speed up the pace in the future to adapt to the adjustment of the Chinese market."

　　In this regard, Chen Zhixiong, senior manager of early-stage R&D and styling of SAIC Volkswagen Skoda, also said that there must be some touches. Now, when SAIC Volkswagen Skoda goes to the Czech headquarters to talk to executives about styling design, they will listen to these opinions from the Chinese side. However, the challenge lies in the fact that the self-owned brands of the head can realize the styling at a low cost is the strength. "We are now also studying how to make high-end styling features at a low cost."

　　"After all, China is the world's largest market, and this market is full of imagination." Therefore, Tim Steiskal, executive director of the brand marketing business of SAIC Volkswagen Skoda, also said that Skoda has accumulated 3 million car owners in China, which is a personalization. The brand hopes that consumers will be able to enter the exhibition hall, have truly experienced the product, return to the real car experience, serve the users well, and increase the number of potential customers.

　　In addition, because the average age of consumers in the Chinese market is younger than that in the European market, and the preferences of consumer groups are also very different, there is a natural contradiction. In this regard, "Skoda headquarters is also considering whether our brand should have a globally unified feature. A few years ago, we made specializations in color. The Chinese market is different from the European market and achieved good results. In the future, styling , There will also be differences in family languages, but this is still a long way away, and we need to go step by step and we need to explore."

　　New Kodiak

　　Briefly introduce the situation of New Kodiak.

　　New Kodiak adopts the design concept of "exquisite flow crystal aesthetics", with a new suspension streamer interior design, and is committed to bringing users a refined, warm and humane German driving experience.

　　Specifically, on the basis of the Skoda crystal cutting design language, the new Kodiak has evolved again, adopting the design elements of the sports style of overseas RS models, the majestic momentum and strong muscle lines are fully displayed, while the sense of movement and sculpture The sense of science and technology is integrated into it, showing strong visual tension and emotional tension.

　　In terms of interior design, the new Kodiak’s new suspension streamer cockpit is eye-catching. The instrument panel adopts a simple horizontal layout, and the layered design is three-dimensionally inlaid with three-layer materials, which gives people a visual association of layers of mountains. In order to meet the aesthetic and use needs of domestic users, unlike the embedded central control screen of the European version, the new Kodiak is equipped with a large 12-inch floating screen and a 10.25-inch full LCD instrument, including a 10-color streamer atmosphere vision system. Set off a full sense of technology and future.

　　In terms of body size, as a medium-sized SUV, the new Kodiak has a wheelbase of 2,791mm and is available in 5-seater, 7-seater and sports GT models. The 7-seater model adopts a 2+3+2 seat layout. The second row of seats supports 4-way adjustment of the front and back and backrest angles. The third row of seats adopts Easy Entry one-key entry design, which is convenient for passengers to enter and exit.

　　In terms of power, the new Kodiak is equipped with the third-generation EA888 series 2.0T turbocharged engine, matched with a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox. The excellent characteristics of low speed and high torque are remarkable, and it brings good acceleration performance. The driving mode includes four modes: economy, standard, sports, and personalization. In terms of driving safety, a comprehensive safety structure is adopted to prevent German cars.

　　On the in-vehicle interconnection, the new Kodiak is used for the first time in the MOS 3.X digital vehicle linkage system of SAIC Volkswagen's models. This is the first time the system has been used in SAIC Volkswagen's models. The MOS 3.X system expands on the 5 core functions of intelligent voice, intelligent navigation, intelligent entertainment, intelligent travel, and intelligent control car, and expands new functions such as Avatar intelligent personal assistant, intelligent service for life scenes, driving video recording and taking pictures. , Users can experience the human touch of Zhilian Technology.

　　In addition, New Kodiak is also equipped with functions such as wireless CarPlay/CarLife, OTA remote upgrade, mobile phone control, car home interconnection, etc., combined with Sohu video, Kuwo music, 36Kr news and other third-party entertainment information applications, for users Bring a full-link intelligent experience.

　　The role of the chief representative

　　This time Skoda mentioned that the role of chief representative was newly established.

　　Ningbo introduced that the role of the chief representative is to integrate the functions of the original market, sales, value-added, and service segments. Specifically, in the past Skoda may pay more attention to sales in the regional market. But in the future, the chief representative must consider working with dealers to improve customer sales and service experience and improve customer satisfaction.

　　That is to say, from the original sales promoter to the companion and participant of the dealer's operation, and the manager to the participant of marketing services. Through the role of the chief representative, Skoda's overall price system will be more transparent in the future, and the linkage with dealers will be more direct.

　　Because of the rapid changes in the past two years from the incremental market to the stock market, Skoda’s original regional market management system and dealers themselves are facing huge challenges. Therefore, Skoda not only added a post of chief representative this time, but also made adjustments to the entire supporting system.

　　Subsequently, Skoda will provide distributors with sales promotion and other support in a timely manner based on real-time changes in market competition and sales fluctuations to increase the competitiveness of Skoda products in the terminal.

　　As far as the overall morale of Skoda dealers is concerned, "The morale of Skoda dealers is rapidly improving and improving. Friends in the media who care about Skoda will find that the morale of visiting the same dealer six months ago is very different from the current morale. Recently, there is also Many distributors hope that we can give them more orders from Kodiak and Octavia PRO."

　　Ningbo also gave an introduction to media teachers. In the first half of this year, Skoda's inventory coefficient has been at a high level. However, after a series of adjustment measures, at the end of October, Skoda's inventory equivalent returned to the level of 1.2 to 1.3, which is to return to the good operation of the inventory coefficient range of 0.8 to 1.2. "We hope that in the future Skoda's inventory equivalent will be able to operate around 1.0. This is the direction of our efforts. At present, we have reached the first step."

　　Next, how to ensure that every user who purchases Skoda can feel satisfied with the service is the main task of Ningbo. Moreover, "If there is an opportunity, I hope to invite all media teachers to be a mysterious visitor next year, and take a look at the Skoda dealer’s Face, feel the specific changes in the terminal."