Michael Taylor•6 Feb 2014
NEWS
GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: New Skoda Fabia
Volkswagen's Czech mate to present all-new MQB-based show car next month, but it's goodbye for Fabia RSSkoda’s big-selling baby car is on its way out, with its replacement to be previewed via a concept car at next month’s Geneva motor show.
The Fabia, which carried all before it in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, is the mainstay of the Czech brand’s growing line-up, but it’s also getting to be something of an old stager.
While the rest of the Volkswagen Group steps into the future on the back of the Golf 7’s chassis architecture, the current Fabia was updated back in 2007, but even then it carried over all the underpinnings of its 1999 predecessor.
So the new Fabia, based on the Volkswagen Group’s MQB platform, has been a long-awaited machine in Skoda circles and the Geneva concept is set to be a slightly stylised version of the production car due late this year.
Built on a shortened version of the Golf platform, dubbed MQB-A, the next Fabia will actually pioneer the architecture that will eventually be shared by the next Volkswagen Polo, Audi A1 and SEAT Ibiza.
It will also use the array of engines just announced for the facelifted Polo, including its new 1.0-litre and 1.2-litre three-cylinder engines and 1.2- and 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engines, along with a new 1.4-litre diesel.
While the current Fabia looks like a staid, stolid Eastern Bloc machine, the new car is said to be a lot more imaginative and creative, without alienating traditional buyers.
Sadly, Skoda insiders insist there are no plans for a replacement for the 132kW Fabia RS. Though it was critically acclaimed, Skoda admits it over-estimated the Fabia’s appeal to young, enthusiast buyers and there will be no third-generation hot hatch.
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Written byMichael Taylor
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