Skoda India has officially sold over 1 lakh units of the Octavia sedan after 21 years of being in the market. As per the brand, the Octavia is the highest-selling model line assembled from CKD kits in India.

• The only executive sedan left in India
• Current-gen Octavia comes with a 2.0-litre TSI engine
• Next RS version to arrive by 2023

History of the Octavia in India

After its global unveiling in 1996, the first-gen Octavia was introduced in India in 2001, and an RS version followed in 2004. This RS also held the distinction of being the first-ever turbo petrol performance sedan in India. In 2005, Skoda introduced the second-generation Octavia – rebadged as the Laura – and kept the first-gen car on sale until 2010.

The third-gen Octavia was launched in 2013, and it also got an RS version in the form of the RS 230 in 2017 via CBU route. The Czech brand followed it up with the fastest Skoda ever in India – the RS 245 – in 2020.

Skoda is currently gearing up to bring its first plug-in hybrid, the Octavia RS iV, to India. Read more on that here.

Skoda Octavia: Sole model in its segment

The fourth-gen Octavia was launched in June last year at an introductory price of Rs 25.99 lakh, going upto Rs 28.99 lakh for the top-spec L&K trim. In FY22, Skoda sold a total of 1,915 units of the Octavia in India. It is currently the only executive sedan in the country as the Honda Civic, Renault Fluence, Volkswagen Jetta, Hyundai Elantra and the Toyota Corolla have been discontinued.

Over the last decade, with the introduction of SUVs at every price point, the executive sedan segment has been in decline, with the Hyundai Elantra being the most recent car to be discontinued. The Octavia, meanwhile, apart from a small absence between 2020 and 2021, has weathered the storm, and now has the segment all to itself.