Launched last year, the Skoda Kushaq has helped the Czech carmaker find many new customers by taking the fight straight to Creta and Seltos
That the Skoda Kushaq and its mechanical twin, VW Taigun, could outsell the Kia Seltos on the monthly sales charts recently goes on to show the effect of the MQB-A0-IN based products on the market. Both the compact SUVs have been well-received and are being liked for the dynamics and the powerful petrol engines they offer. Among the two, it’s the Czech sibling that has found more buyers but, unfortunately, its initial batches were marred by fuel pump issues. The carmaker has already started providing a ‘more robust’ fuel pump but it looks like some of the owners are yet to gain full confidence in the vehicle.
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This, however, has to do more with the fluctuating fuel quality than the vehicle itself and one such owner has urged Zac Hollis, Director, Sales and Marketing, Skoda Auto Volkswagen India to come up with a ‘Make in India’ fuel pump suitable for lower quality fuel that some petrol stations dispense. Taking to social media, one Narendra Singh writes,”Request to Shri Zac Hollis & VW Skoda India: Sir, Congratulations to you for making Kushaq a success in Challenging markets like India. I am writing this post to revisit the older issue of fuel pump. I know all Kushaq’s are now equipped with robust fuel pump. Sir, In India many pump owners adulterate their fuel and there is a issue of moisture in rainy season too. The fuel quality also varies from place to place. If an owner ends up with poor petrol, then he/she has to suffer. Sir, can VW Skoda take petrol samples from across india and design a “make in india” fuel pump for Indian Kushaqs? that will work with quality of fuel we have here. Please consider it sir. I am happy filling 95RON fuel all the time, but sometimes in rural areas there is no choice but to go for regular fuel.”
From this, it’s clear that even though the owners of the Skoda Kushaq are fine with paying for premium fuel but they’re still not confident about the vehicle’s performance owing to the fluctuation in fuel quality that is found between urban and rural areas. In December, Zac Hollis had confirmed the end of EPC issue but had recommended usage of 95 RON premium fuel for optimum performance from the TSI turbo-petrol engines. Now, the higher octane fuel not only costs more but its availability is questionable in rural and semi-urban areas due to utter lack of demand. In such a scenario, it’s only obvious for an owner to demand a fuel pump that runs on lower quality petrol.
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For reference, the Kushaq has been on sale in two engine variants – 1.0-litre TSI and 1.5-litre TSI EVO. The former offers 115PS-175NM while the latter outputs 150PS-250Nm. Both the motors come mated to a 6-speed manual transmission as standard. Additionally, the 1.0-litre motor is available with a 6-speed torque-converter automatic transmission and the bigger engine can be had with a 7-speed DSG. Prices of the vehicle range from
