Skoda Australia has a rich history of charming small passenger cars, but solid sales of the Czech brand’s SUVs so far in 2025 could spell the end for at least one of its slower-selling hatchbacks.
Of the nine models in Skoda’s current local range, five are SUVs. The remainder are the lower-volume Superb large flagship sedan and wagon, the mid-size Octavia sedan and wagon, the small Scala hatch, and the light Fabia hatch. All but the Octavia are outsold by Skoda’s traditional petrol SUVs.
“I think [those models are] running in proportional numbers. [They’re] not really the highest sellers, but this is what the power of the brand is about,” Skoda Australia director Lucie Kuhn told CarExpert at the local launch for the facelifted Enyaq electric SUV.
“We are not depending on only one or two models, but we offer all the wide portfolio to our customers. Some are selling a bit less, some are selling a bit more, but the brand is built up of all these models – so actually, every model line matters.”
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Nevertheless, the Fabia and Scala – Skoda Australia’s two smallest models – have contributed only a combined 307 sales to the brand’s total of 2902 so far this year, with the Scala accounting for just 97 of them. When asked whether these figures were enough to justify keeping those models on sale, Ms Kuhn admitted that “Scala might be a subject of consideration”.
“We are just in the beginning of our analysis of that model. It’s not necessarily about the sales of the model, because Skoda is a global brand and the range is actually very well matched to the global activities of the brand,” she told CarExpert.
“But considering the volumes of the brand in the Australian market, the range is actually quite rich. So the Scala is, right now, under a kind of analysis [to see] if it’s actually worth it to develop the activities around the car, considering the size of the volumes.”
Indeed, the Scala is by far the slowest-selling model in Australia’s mainstream small-car segment. With less than 100 deliveries in 2025, it pales in comparison to the 13,145 registrations posted by the segment-leading Toyota Corolla so far this year, and it’s also way off even the discontinued Kia Cerato (1094 sales).
Scala sales are also down 63 per cent year-to-date, marking an even larger decline than the small-car segment overall, in which the dominant Corolla is down by 25.8 per cent. So it’s no surprise the future of the Scala is under discussion at Skoda Australia right now.
“But as I said, it is still just right now that we are discussing [Scala] internally. The truth is that Scala is currently the model where we are having some thoughts about things like that,” Ms Kuhn added.
In Australia, the Scala is available in two automatic variants. The 1.0-litre 85TSI Select is priced at $33,990 before on-roads, while the top-spec 1.5-litre 110TSI Monte Carlo jumps all the way to $43,890 before on-roads. For context, the top-selling Corolla starts at $32,110 before on-roads for the Ascent Sport Hybrid.
The Scala range has shrunk in the past two years, with the Ambition and Signature grades being removed with the arrival of a 2024 facelift. Skoda continues to offer several different engine and transmission combinations overseas.
The removal of the more affordable Scala variants is in contrast to Skoda Australia’s approach to other models like the smaller Fabia, the latest generation of which was initially introduced here only in top-spec Monte Carlo guise but was later joined by the entry-level Select in 2024 – dropping the model’s entry point by some $7000.
Ms Kuhn says the move was aimed at broadening the Fabia’s appeal, even if unlike elsewhere in the world Australians have long preferred premium variants of Skoda models, but she conceded it still doesn’t sell well enough to justify the introduction of even cheaper Fabia variants.
“I would say it’s, again, a complementary trim that, let’s say, levels the volumes, but it’s not a substantial part,” she told CarExpert.
“I think Monte Carlo still resonates pretty well with the customers, and we can feel that interest in high-spec still overshadows the interest in the lower trims.”
The Scala has been on sale in Australia since 2020, following the nameplate’s global launch in 2019. Positioned between the Fabia and Octavia, it replaced the Rapid and has much in common with other Volkswagen Group models like the Skoda Kamiq and Volkswagen T-Cross SUVs.
In 2024, the Scala was one of Skoda’s lowest-selling models globally. It posted 56,300 sales for the year, down on the Enyaq (79,500), Fabia (117,100), Kamiq (126,000) and Octavia (215,700), contributing to the Czech brand’s global total of 926,600 sales last year.
If Skoda was to pull the Scala from Australian showrooms, it would echo a similar move by fellow European brand Mercedes-Benz, which announced in February this year that it would discontinue its A-Class small sedan locally, following the discontinuation of the B-Class in 2023.
Audi is also gearing up to end production of its A1 compact hatch and Q2 small SUV in 2026, which won’t be directly replaced.
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