FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: Skoda MissionL

The shadowy image pictured is likely to be Skoda's long-awaited small car that is hoped to take the Czech car-maker to the next sales level in Australia. And it could introduce yet another competitor for the Volkswagen Golf from its own ranks.

Dubbed the MissionL Concept and making its first appearance in the Frankfurt motor show, the new compact Skoda will be launched as a five-door hatch in Europe, China and Russia and as a four-door sedan in India. And it's got a very good chance of coming to Australia too.

The head of Skoda Australia, Matthew Wiesner, told motoring.com.au at the Frankfurt motor show that the MissionL "...will go on sale in the Czech Republic (very) late Q4 this year [and] the rest of Europe in the first-half of 2012 and Australia (hopefully) late in 2012, or early 2013.

"Mission L is soon to start production," added Wiesner, "the car will be basically unchanged from the concept model, except for the cool door handles."

Skoda also flagged its intention to introduce a new model every six months for the next two or three years.

It is expected the new Skoda will be based on the new, larger MQB platform that will underpin the Volkswagen Group's seventh-generation Golf expected to appear in Australia in 2013.

"This premiere kicks off Škoda's model offensive for the coming years," said Škoda Board Chairman Prof. Dr. h.c. Winfried Vahland. "This new compact model, along with other new products to follow, will enable us to accomplish our goal of increasing global annual sales to 1.5 million vehicles by 2018. We are going to present a new car approximately every six months over the next few years.

The engine-transmission lineup could also be expected to follow the Golf range pretty closely, so expect dual-clutch automatic gearboxes to be on the cards.

Skoda has mapped out a growth strategy to 2018 and plans to increase sales by then to 1.5 million vehicles annually.

Heavy investments in new product, markets and manufacturing abilities will be instigated to reach this goal, says the company. The Yeti, as well as the new compact model, will be produced locally for the Chinese market, while production in Russia will be expanded through cooperation with the Russian car-maker GAZ. The new compact will also be made in India.

> With Joshua Dowling