Skoda Announces Start of Assembly of Kushaq, Slavia In Vietnam

Skoda Auto has announced the start of assembly of the Indian-made Kushaq and Slavia in Vietnam. Skoda has opened a new plant in Quang Ninh province in Vietnam in collaboration with Thanh Cong Group and the first car to be assembled is the Kushaq, and the Slavia’s assembly will begin later this year. 

The two cars will be assembled using completely knocked-down (CKD) kits imported from India, from the brand’s plant in Pune. Assembly of the Kushaq has already begun and the Slavia’s is expected to start in the coming weeks. 

The new facility has a welding shop, a paint shop and a final assembly line. Skoda says the assembly line is the largest section of the plant. It also has a 2 km-long test track which Skoda says has been designed to replicate a variety of local road conditions. Skoda will also test the Kushaq for more than 3.30 lakh km in Vietnam and similar testing will also be done for other models being assembled or produced in the South East Asian country. 

Vietnam is not the first left-hand drive (LHD) country Skoda is exporting its made-in-India cars to, but it is the first country where it is being exported as a CKD kit. The LHD Kushaq and Slavia will also get features like adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring and synthetic leather upholstery. The first two features aren’t available on the India-spec model. 

The Kushaq and Slavia aren’t the first Skoda cars to be sold in Vietnam, the brand entered the country in September 2023 with the Karoq and Kodiaq, both of which are imported as completely built units (CBU) from Europe. Skoda intended to begin the local assembly of the Kushaq and Slavia in early 2024, but its plans seem to have been delayed by around a year. It had announced its plans to enter Vietnam back in October 2022.