The ongoing semiconductor shortage has been creating havoc in the product plans of almost every carmaker. Of late, we have seen multiple variant rejigs by many carmakers in India, with Skoda being one of them. The brand has recently announced another equipment update for its Kushaq, Slavia line-up in India, which will come into effect next month.

• Kushaq, Slavia to get 8.0-inch touchscreen
• Will lose wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto
• Kushaq Monte Carlo will continue with 10-inch unit

Skoda has recently conveyed to its India dealer fraternity that upcoming dispatches of Ambition and Style variants of the Kushaq and Slavia, most likely from June 1 onwards, will come with an 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system instead of the current 10-inch unit. 

The company has shared an official statement with us confirming this development, "In light of the continued semi-conductor shortage, we have made some minor updates to the equipment in our India 2.0 cars w.e.f. 1st June onwards, so that our customers face no undue delays in taking delivery of their Skoda. Customers will be appraised of the feature updates by their dealers."

Smaller touchscreen has fewer features

This change has been done due to supply chain issues from  the OEM that supplies the Skoda Play 10-inch touchscreen unit. This unit will now be replaced by a new 8.0-inch touchscreen system, which will have almost all the functions that were seen on the larger screen. However, it won’t be compatible with the Skoda Play app and will not have wireless Android Auto or Apple CarPlay functionality either. The new 8.0-inch unit will have dedicated knobs for volume and other functions as opposed to touch-only functions that are present on the outgoing 10-inch unit.

Skoda has, however, confirmed that the Kushaq Monte Carlo, which was introduced recently, will continue with the 10-inch screen. And contrary to reports on the internet, Skoda has not removed the wireless charging feature from any of its variants and this feature will continue to be offered as before.

This is not the first time Skoda India is seen making spontaneous changes to its line-up due to microchip shortage. The Kushaq Active Peace and Kushaq Ambition Classic variants introduced by the brand were missing features like the touchscreen unit and the automatic climate control panel, respectively, among others. These limited-run variants were cleverly positioned in the line-up and helped customers get their booked vehicles delivered as planned.  

While some of the missing features from the Kushaq Active Peace and Ambition Classic will be added back once available (at extra cost), replacing the infotainment screen with a larger unit may seem a tough task for Skoda. This means customers will have to make do with the 8.0-inch screen on their Skoda vehicles.

Will the Taigun, Virtus also lose the bigger screen?

As of now, there is no news on an infotainment system downgrade on the Taigun. It remains to be seen how Skoda’s sister-brand Volkswagen handles this crisis, more so as the Virtus, which is based on the Slavia, will see a market launch on June 9, 2022.