Skoda hopes to gain business from economic down-sizers with its new Superb. The carmaker wants conquest sales for the model, and hopes to sell 4,000 units in a full year. That compares with the 2,200 annual units achieved by the old model.

Skoda managing director Robert Hazelwood said dealers may benefit because of Skoda’s focus on quality and value for money products. 

“With the focus on cost of ownership, both for retail and fleet customers, we’ve come of age,” he added.

He is positioning the brand’s range to meet with the changes due in writing- down allowances next year, which will allow businesses a 20% write down allowance on expenditure on vehicles with less than 160g/km CO2 emissions, compared with a 10% allowance for vehicles above that.

Two thirds of Skoda sales last year were vehicles with less than 160g/km CO2 emissions.

This year, due to industry-wide collapsing retail registrations, Skoda’s fleet sales have overtaken retail.

At the end of September, the brand’s year-to-date retail registrations had dropped 1.4%, against a market-wide dip of 11.5%.

Its fleet registrations were up 12.3%, in comparison, bucking the trend of a market segment down 3.2%.

Hazelwood is in talks with regional dealer groups about open points in Manchester and London.

He believes they are better placed to operate in high cost metropolitan areas.