Skoda Auto India is planning a bonanza for its customers in the Indian automobile market and has lined up no less than 10 product actions for 2026 including new product launches and existing vehicle updates. This was announced by Skoda India brand director Ashish Gupta, who went on to add that the company will further expand into unserved markets, smaller towns and deeper into existing markets, to increase its market penetration to 90 per cent this year from the current 80 per cent.
He further announced the upcoming introduction of the RS, or Rally Sport, version of its biggest SUV, the Kodiaq. Gupta was speaking while introducing the company’s updated midsize SUV, the Kushaq, which has come in with significant changes besides that of the its looks. Skoda appears upbeat about its Indian market prospects after having grown sales by 36 per cent in 2025, its biggest so far, and selling the maximum number of vehicles in a year ever, at 117,000 units, during its 25 years in India.
The 2026 Skoda Kushaq
The Kushaq has undergone significant changes over the previous version that it rolled out about five years ago. The new SUV will be open for pre-bookings and on Skoda Auto India’s official website at ₹15,000 and deliveries will start by the end of March 2026. Skoda did not share the specifications of the new Kushaq as it is still undergoing homologation and the final data has not been frozen as yet. However, it has said that the top-of-the-line Monte Carlo version, with blacked out grille, etc., will be available right from the beginning for the relaunched model.
The rear end of the Kushaq gets new design treatment
Nonetheless, quite a bit has been announced. The updated Kushaq will come with a range of torque convertor automatics, with turbocharged engines across all variants. Available will be an eight-speed torque converter automatic paired with the 1.0 TSI engine, alongside a six-speed manual and the existing seven-speed DSG automatic with the 1.5 TSI. The existing engines on offer in the Kushaq will continue to be offered and there will be no changes on that front.
Interestingly, Skoda is upping its game although it is not clear what the cost and, therefore, price implications of that will be. A host of features are being offered as standard right from base variant. They include alloy wheels, electric sunroof, Climatronic auto airconditioning, rain-sensing wipers, rear wiper and defogger, auto-dimming IRVM, and LED headlamps and tail lamps, among others. Higher trim models will also get a segment-first rear seat massage function and a panoramic sunroof, introduced in the Kushaq for the first time. Existing features such as electric front seats with ventilation, cruise control, rear-view camera with sensors, wireless charging will remain.
On the appearance front, the Kushaq now comes with a new front grille with chrome ribs and an illuminated light band DRL, new LED headlights, front parking sensors, and LED fog lamps. The rear gets new connected tail lights with sequential turn indicators. The Skoda badging is now illuminated. Three new colours – Shimla Green, Steel Grey, and Cherry Red, have been added.
The five-star Global NCAP rating remains. Starting with six airbags and over 25 active and passive safety features as standard, the list goes up to 40 features in the top-end variant. However, Skoda has not introduced advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) in the Kushaq in any form. While there are some ADAS features that do not quite work very well in India, a lot of them do.
The price range, while not announced yet, is unlikely to vary too much from those of the previous version.
Meanwhile, PTI reports that Skoda board member (sales and marketing) Martin Jahn has said, “India for us is the most important market outside of Europe...I think it’s the country that’s the least affected by all the turmoil, there is good economic growth, good demographics, and good prospects for the future.”
He added that Skoda has to bring an electric car to India but has not decided which one it would be yet. Also in the line-up, there is a small SUV, a midsize SUV and then the big SUV. So something in the middle would also be an opportunity. Skoda had displayed the Enyaq electric SUV at the Bharat Mobility Show 2024, but is not not committing whether that or the Elroq is likely to make it to India.
Skoda's Enyaq electric SUV is seen on display at Bharat Mobility Global Expo organised by India's commerce ministry at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi
“We are well aware of the gaps in India. We cannot give any specifics, but we are reviewing all the options and want to grow and bring new models to India,” Jahn has said.
India is on the verge of signing a free trade agreement with the EU. If the terms are favourable, get some European models in small numbers could also become available to Indian customers. That would be interesting turn.