Kodiaq RS too hot for Australia

Skoda Australia has gained international support for its fight to have a high-performance RS turbo-diesel version of its new Kodiaq seven-seat SUV okayed for local launch.

But Australia’s classification as a ‘hot weather’ market by Volkswagen Group’s internal engineering standards means the drivetrain of the much-mooted but yet-to-be-sighted Kodiaq RS doesn’t have sufficient cooling for local conditions.

And it has yet to sign off on the budget to make the changes necessary that would allow the Kodiaq RS to come Down Under.

Skoda’s international sales general manager Peter Solc confirmed at this week’s local Kodiaq launch that he had taken up the cause for a hot Kodiaq in Australia, where the Octavia RS is already a hit for the company and about to gain a pumped up RS 245 sibling.

“We fight for it. We find it very important,” he said.

Added local Skoda boss Michael Irmer: “We obviously have expressed very, very strong interest in the RS version for obvious reasons.”

“If the engine will become available for Australia then we will 100 per cent take it.

“But that is at the moment under investigation by the engineers … because we are classified as a hot country – different to New Zealand, for instance -- and that has higher requirements for the cooling system regarding the engine.”

With at least four SUVs on their way here from Skoda before the end of the decade, Australia has been declared a “priority market” for the brand with big sales growth opportunities.

Getting the Kodiaq RS to Australia will be a solid test of just how serious headquarters in the Czech Republic is about that classification.

Skoda says the Kodiaq is on sale here ahead of its original Australian schedule because the “priority” classification accelerated work on adaptation of its 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine to right-hand drive.

“As we managed to pull the engine forward for the Kodiaq then also this, this is our intention,” Solc added.

“Nothing is decided. We fight for it … to bring it into line for the hot weather climate.”

Added Irmer: “We work on it [RS], let’s put it that way. That is a little bit further away in the future. If we get it … happy days, we throw a big party.

“At the moment I would say there are plenty of other exciting products to come.”

Those products could include both SportLine and Scout versions of the Kodiaq, neither of which would fall foul of the hot-weather classification.

The Kodiaq RS, on the other hand, would be powered by a twin-turbo version of the EA288 (post-Dieselgate) 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine.

Currently seen in the Passat and Tiguan in Europe, it makes 176kW in those applications.

But like other VW Group products such as the Golf R and Audi S3 that have struck issues with the hot-weather regs, an Australian version of the Kodiaq RS might have to be detuned to comply with the company’s own internal standards.