With an impressive portfolio of brands, the Volkswagen Group is committed to further differentiating the products of three of its brands: Volkswagen, Skoda and SEAT.
The confirmation came from the voice of Michael Jost, director of product strategy for the Volkswagen Group, who in an interview with the German publication Automobilwoche declared “we want to manage our brands and their identity with greater clarity”.
In the same interview, Jost “raised the veil a little” about how this differentiation could be made, stating: “Seat can clearly present more exciting cars, something that the CUPRA models exemplify. On the other hand, Skoda can serve the Eastern European markets in a more dedicated way and dedicate itself to customers who like functionality and versatility.”
However, given these statements, the Volkswagen Group seems committed to pointing Skoda to brands such as Hyundai, Kia or even Dacia (more recognized for their cost/benefit ratio and focused on offering more rational products) while SEAT seems to be in the trough to assume a more premium positioning.
If this scenario is confirmed, SEAT could become the Volkswagen Group's answer to Alfa Romeo (in other words, a premium brand dedicated to producing more “emotional” models), something that, curiously, was always desired by Ferdinand Piëch.
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At the same time, if this plan goes ahead, it is more likely that we will see Skoda assume the role of access brand to the Volkswagen Group universe (which it already plays), and perhaps even assume a more low-cost position that allows it to recover part of the market share lost by the Volkswagen Group in Eastern Europe.
According to Jost, the Volkswagen Group is concerned with ensuring that there is no “cannibalization” of sales between the group's models, which led him to say that the Volkswagen Group is analyzing the group's different ranges in search of unnecessary overlaps, and even Volkswagen can see models disappear so that these do not occur.