Skoda to open boutiques in India

Skoda Auto India has come up with boutique showrooms in India. In doing so it has followed

BMW Automobile Company that was the first to launch its BMW Studio. The company has a unique strategy about not selling cars, but to promote the brand. Skoda’s boutique shops will have one car displayed inside while the rest of the space will showcase a wide range of lifestyle products such as Skoda T-shirts, kit cars, fashion and car accessories. Interestingly, Skoda doesn’t have such showrooms anywhere else in the world, and it plans to replicate it in other countries, depending on the experience in India.
The company will also introduce virtual product tours and express test drives. It is planning to launch 15 such showrooms in nine cities by the end of this year. These will be different from the usual dealer shops, which will have all the car models. The success of these boutique showrooms will be evaluated on the number of footfalls it can generates rather than sales of cars.
Skoda Auto India is also in talks with a few fashion designers who would display and retail their creations at these showrooms. Existing dealers of the company will be making the required investment in setting up these showrooms and will be responsible for managing them as well.