In a strong move aimed at furthering vehicle and passenger safety, Skoda Auto India has further enhanced the safety quotient of its Kushaq midsize SUV and Slavia sedan by introducing standard fitment of six airbags. This move is part of the company’s MY2024 updates for its India 2.0 product portfolio.
This, expectedly, is accompanied by a slight increase in prices, with the Kushaq now ranging between Rs 11.99 lakh-19.79 lakh, while the Slavia is priced from Rs 11.63 lakh-18.83 lakh, all prices, ex-showroom, India.
Until now, both the Slavia and the Kushaq only got six airbags on the top-spec Style trim; lower Ambition, Onyx and Active variants were only available with two airbags. Now six airbags are standard across the range for both models, for which prices have gone up by Rs 10,000-35,000 for the entry-level variants. Special edition variants such as the Monte Carlo, Style Edition and Elegance Edition of both models already get six airbags as standard.
Both the Kushaq and the Slavia have aced the Global NCAP crash test with a five-star rating each, getting the top rating for adult and child occupants under GNCAP’s updated safety test protocols.
Speaking on the upgrades, Petr Janeba, Brand Director, Skoda Auto India, said: “Safety has always been intrinsic to the Skoda DNA. We were the first brand to score a full 5-stars for adults and children under the Global NCAP tests. Our emphasis on safety embodies our Human Touch approach, and underscores our focus on being a family brand. We always offered frontal airbags in our base variants and six in our higher variants, each as safe as the other. As part of our MY24 updates we now offer six airbags across all variants of the Kushaq and Slavia. We are always listening to our customers and shall continue to provide relevant upgrades and significant product actions within our product portfolio and our variant line-up.”
The enhancements to the Kushaq’s and Slavia’s MY2024 range are a further addition to updates already introduced by the company in Q4 2023. The top-of-the-line variants in both cars saw the introduction of all-new features like electric seats for the driver and co-driver, which is a segment-first, and an illuminated footwell area. The centre of the dash saw the 25.4 cm infotainment screen with Skoda Play Apps. The system links wirelessly with Apple Carplay and Android Auto. While this full-fledged infotainment system was available in the Style and above trims, recent updates have seen the company introduce them even in the mid-level Ambition trims furthering the value proposition for customers.
Made in India, for the world
The Kushaq, introduced in July 2021, and the Slavia, introduced in March 2022, are based on the made-for-India, ready-for-the-world MQB-A0-IN platform and are being exported to other right-hand drive and GCC countries. The MQB-A0-IN was the first made-in-India platform to have achieved dual 5-stars, that too under Global NCAP’s newer and more stringent test protocols. The latest introduction of six airbags as standard across the range furthers the safety quotient in the proven and tested India 2.0 cars.