Breaking News: Skoda preparing a five-door coupe
By Andrew C., 30 Aug, 2010. 0 Comments
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Within five years, Skoda will see its range expand from five models to seven, including a five-door coupe. Senior management has signed off on the new Focus/Astra-sized car while the full-scale styling models have been made. Fitting nicely between the Fabia and the next-generation Octavia, the Focus-Astra-sized car will go on sale in 2012 or 2013. Autocar reports that a Skoda insider revealed, Determination to elevate the brand and our presence in 100 markets globally means we have to widen our product footprint. But as the Roomster and Yeti show, we do not always do the obvious thing. The five-door coupe, which will use the same basic platform similar to the Volkswagen Golf, features the VW Group's small-capacity normally aspirated and turbocharged petrol engines and DSG transmissions. For cost reasons, it will not get the Super's Twinhatch boot. Karl Neuhold, Skoda's head of exterior of design, said that there are many options available to its senior management.
He added, "Our Czech Republic research and development unit has received major investment so many things are possible and we do things the Skoda way. Skoda's second model will be its version of the VW Up city car, due in 2011. It has a three- and five-door model, complementing the five-door Fabia. Alongside the VW and Seat derivatives, this model will be built at a new factory in Slovakia. The original plan was for all the Up models to be made at the Mlada Boleslav factory; however, fluctuations affecting the Czech currency forced Skoda to move the production to a Euro-zone country. A budget saloon based on the Octavia platform is also in the works. It will serve as a sister car to the new mid-sized Volkswagen saloon that will be sold only in the US. It's doubtful that the budget car will be sold in Europe, as it clashes with Skoda's brand image. The car will be sold in developing markets, namely India and China, where it will be manufactured. Skoda is anticipating the predicted car sales growth in these developing nations.
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