New Skoda Slavia speedster concept lands

Skoda has released pictures of an all-new one-off Skoda Slavia concept that claims to draw inspiration from a 1950s rally car.

Created by a team of 31 apprentices at the car-maker's Mlada Boleslav training academy in the Czech Republic, the new Scala hatch-based Slavia speedster is the seventh student-led concept to roll out of the school gates, following in the tyre tracks of the Mountiaq ute and the sporty Atero coupe.

Borrowing its name from the bicycles originally made by Skoda's founders, Václav Laurin and Václav Klement, the Slavia is said to have been inspired by the 1957 Skoda 1000 OHC racer that weighed just 550kg and was built for endurance rallies.

According to the students, the transformation from family hatch to two-door roadster wasn't easy going. It involved heavy reinforcement of the underbody, the obvious roof removal and the welding of the rear doors in place.

Helping to create the eye-catching speedster lines, the rear of the cabin was boxed in using the aero buttress-style humps.

Finishing off the sporty look, large 20-inch alloy wheels were borrowed from a Kodiaq RS, while a performance braking upgrade has been carried out using parts from the Octavia RS.

Finally, a louder sports exhaust was added and the concept was painted in a pearlescent hue that features neon blue accents, and, while a set of programmable LEDs that live beneath the sill that can project the three colours of the Czech flag.

Inside, a racing theme has been embraced, hence the Sparco bucket seats and four-point harnesses, although instead of saving weight to boost performance the apprentices have added a huge 2250W sound system.

Sadly, there's little chance of any open-air Scala ever making production, but the skills and experience accrued by the budding designers, engineers and assembly workers involved in the project is thought to be invaluable.