Skoda Auto India managing director Imran Hassen (second from right) at the launch of the Superb in New Delhi on Thursday. (AFP)

New Delhi, June 24: The Indian unit of Czech carmaker Skoda Auto expects to break even by 2005.

Skoda, a unit of German automaker Volkswagen AG, had set up base in India in November 2001. It has so far invested more than Rs 257.6 crore ($56 million) at its Aurangabad plant, which employs 300 people and can make 15,000 cars annually.

The automaker, which assembles and sells the Octavia sedan in two versions — the 1.9-litre, 90-bhp turbo diesel and 2.0-litre, 111-bhp petrol version — plans to sell 9,000 cars in 2004, up from 4,656 in 2003 and hopes to retail 10,000 units in 2005.

“According to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, we have to invest $56 million within seven years of our operations, which we have already done,” said Imran Hassen, managing director of Skoda India at the launch of the Superb sedan.

The 2.8-litre, 190-bhp Superb is powered by a V6 engine and sports a sticker price of Rs 23.45 lakh. The sedan will be imported as a fully-built unit and would compete with DaimlerChrysler AG’s C-class Mercedes Benz.

“We will launch a diesel version of Superb by the end of this year,” said Hassen. The automaker expects to retail 500 units of the model.

Analysts expect car sales in India to grow at an annual average of 10 per cent this decade due to the low level of car ownership. But, the premium segment, estimated at around 40,000 units, grew 6 per cent past year and 4 per cent in 2002.