THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES

The updated Skoda Kushaq proves that knowing your market is half the battle

- By Kurt Morris

Rajasthan has become something of a default venue for automotive first drives in India, and with good reason.

Wide highways, predictable terrain, and long uninterrupted stretches of road make it genuinely useful for understanding a car. Jaipur, though, had an unexpected addition this time — a cool evening breeze that made the city feel almost pleasant, which isn't something you associate with a desert state in the middle of the year. We weren't there for the weather, of course. We were there for the updated Kushaq, and as first-drive settings go, it turned out to be a good one.

The Kushaq holds a particular significance in Skoda's India story.

When the brand relaunched itself on the MQB-AO-IN platform a few years ago, the Kushaq was its opening statement — a compact SUV built specifically for Indian conditions, priced to compete seriously, and engineered to a standard that felt genuinely European without being priced out of reach. It worked. Skoda's India volumes climbed, customer trust followed, and the Kushaq became the car around which the revival was built. This update, then, is Skoda doubling down on what's been working, while addressing the things that weren't.

The biggest mechanical change concerns the 1.0-litre TSI variant, and it's a significant one. The earlier 6-speed torque converter automatic has been replaced by a new 8-speed torque converter unit, and the reasoning is straightforward: fuel economy. The stop-go crawl of city driving, the constant low-speed shuffling, the heat — none of it is kind to how much fuel the engine sips, and over time, owners noticed. The torque converter doesn't have the same razor-sharp shifts, but it offers something more useful in daily life — smoothness and consistency (and likely better long-term durability). It's a more relaxed gearbox for a more realistic set of driving conditions, and it makes the 1.0-litre Kushaq a fundamentally easier car to live with.