Category: Skoda

The Skoda Superb has achieved five stars in independent crash tests performed by Euro-NCA. ONe didn’t expect less from a company which wants to compete with the best brands on the market.

Superb has received five stars in independent crash tests performed by Euro-NCAP which points out that the protection of the occupants’ knees and thighs is excellent. The Superb has achieved the highest possible scores also in side impact and pole impact simulations, receiving 35 points for the protection of adults and 40 points for the protection of children.  The quality of pedestrian protection is very high, too.

“The new Superb has been developed to provide the occupants with maximum possible safety. The Euro-NCAP results confirm that we have managed to produce a top-quality vehicle in terms of performance, user comfort, as well as safety, one of the key aspects from the customer’s perspective, and I am indeed very pleased about that”, said Dr. Eckhard Scholz, Škoda Auto Board Member responsible for Technical Development.

Like the other brands of VW Group, Skoda plans to double lineup by 2011.

In an attempt to increase its global sales, Skoda will double its lineup in the coming years with four new models: the Yeti SUV, a small saloon, a Sharan-like MPV and the eagerly-awaited Up! production version.

The Yeti SUV is expected to be unveiled at the next London Motor Show in July. According to company sources, the Yeti SUV will be similar to the eponymous concept car and will share its underpinnings, transmission and powertrains, with the Volkswagen Tiguan.

Skoda also plans to sell  new small saloon, smaller than the Skoda Octavia. The future saloon was designed for emerging markets only , but Skoda changed its mind and decided to bring it to Europe. How will the Czech carmaker integrate the new car in its lineup remains a mystery.

Along with the Superb saloon and estate models, Skoda will launch a MPV based on the next-generation VW Sharan. This will be the the first time that Skoda offers a MPV. The future model is expected to hit the showrooms by 2010.

Finally, Skoda will sell the long-awaited and exciting Up! low cost car in 2011. For the first time, the city car won’t be built in its homeland but in India to reduce costs.

Source: Autocar

The two millionth Skoda Fabia has just rolled off the production line, eight years after the first generation was launched.

The record-breaking vehicle was a ‘Satin Grey’ Fabia Estate 1.4-litre 16-valve. Skoda Fabia has met a strong demand on European markets thanks to a competitive price and good overall performance. Nearly 1.8 million first generation model were sold before the new version was introduced in early 2007.

The current generation confirms Skoda success on the small car market segment. The company has already sold 63,579 units this year.

According to rumours, Skoda is working on a Superb Estate which might have spotted in Northern Europe.

At first glance, the photographed estate looks like a normal Octavia model, but a close look reveals a lengthened wheelbase. Company sources have reported that the recently launched Skoda Superb will be added an estate variant due to hit the showrooms in 2010, nearly two years after the saloon. The Superb Estate will likely get its engine range from the saloon from the 138bhp 1.4-litre TSI to the 276bhp 3.6-litre V6 for the petrol units and from 113bhp to 168bhp for the TDI family.

The Superb estate will be Skoda’s first attempt to take on the established Volvo estates. In the Volkswagen Group, Skoda has to compete with the Swedish carmaker. Until now, the current range wasn’t able to compete as Skoda’s lineup features smaller models than that of Volvo. The future estate might change the order.

Click here to see all the spyshots

Source: Worldcarfans

2007 was a good year for Skoda which announced record-breaking results thanks to the success met by the Fabia launched last year.

The carmaker delivered a total of 630,032 vehicles in 2007. The Skoda Octavia is the company’s best-selling model with 237,422 vehicles, up by 18.1% on the prior year. The Fabia recorded 232,890 deliveries while the derived Roomster scored good results with 65,727 vehicles. The outgoing Superb was delivered to 20,530 customers. With the new Superb unveiled at Geneva and the Fabia available on all European markets, Skoda will likely announce a record year for 2008.

Globally, the carmaker remains a small player in Europe as it owns a 2.2% market share despite a 8.9% increase on a stagnated market. The carmaker sold a total of 327,322 vehicles in Western Europe. Germany is its first market with 112,452 delivered vehicles in 2007 while the Czech Republic was delivered 66,806 vehicles. Eastern Europe grew by 33.9% to 95,032 vehicles while the Asia/Pacific region grew by an astonishing 78.7 % to 65,295 vehicles.

The Czech carmaker has rolled off the 2,000,000th Octavia since the model has been launched for the first time in 1996.

The milestone-marking vehicle is a silver Octavia Scout 2.0 TDI. The current generation has been launched in 2004. However the first-generation is still being built along with the current model. Altogether Skoda has produced 1,315,000 first-generation Octavias and 685,000 second-generation Octavias.

Last year the company delivered 72,529 first-generation Octavia vehicles and 237,422 current generation Octavias.

Skoda has unveiled the second generation of the Superb saloon. Like the outgoing model, the new Superb will promote a highly competitive roominess-to-price ratio, but also more character.

In the UK, the Superb met quite a success with the taxis by offering a lot of space and boot capacity at a low price. However in emerging countries, Skoda is considered as a premium brand and the new Superb will help the company to move upmarket.

At 4830 mm long, the Superb is longer than the outgoing model by 30mm and offers similar dimensions to the Mercedes E-class and the BMW 5-series. Hopefully, the Superb didn’t gain weight and won’t powerful engines to provide decent performance.

If the Superb has the ambitious plan to take on established rivals, it shares its underpinnings with the Volkswagen Passat, like the outgoing generation. However the Superb features a unique exterior and interior styling combining a large grille and strong lines. At the rear end, the Superb is the reminiscent of the aging  Saab 9-5. On the inside, the link with the Volkswagen products is more obvious although the saloon comes with exclusive controls like the air conditioning control panel.

The Superb will be available with a choice of four petrol engines, the 138bhp 1.4-litre TSI, the 158bhp 1.8-litre T-FSI, the 197bhp 2.0-litre T-FSI . There will also be the traditional TDI engine range.

Skoda UK is now taking orders for the new 1.4 TDI Fabia GreenLine which it claims delivers an impressive 69mpg fuel consumption and bring fuel efficiency to the masses.

The Greenline version is based on the 1.4 TDI model on which minor changes have been made: additional aerodynamic panels have been fitted to the underside of the chassis and the front bumper has been raised by 35mm. However why did they replace the spar tyre by a puncture repair kit? It’s a bit petty.

With such a frugality, the Fabia Greenline car run 689 miles on a full tank of 45 litres. This is 75 more miles than the normal version and will make easier to accept the price increase to £11,490 for the hatchback and £12,140 for the estate. The Fabia Greenline is available in Amazon Green, Magic Black, Brilliant Silver or Candy White.