Skoda targets city-car entrant
Skoda is set to its launch a sub-compact city-car based on Volkswagen's impending Up! model range of compact cars"Smaller and less expensive" than its current entry model Fabia, that's the way Skoda execs describe the Czech marque's latest all-new model. A city-car unashamedly based on the production version of VW's yet-to-surface Up! , the vehicle is so new it still does not have a name... At least publicly.
Skoda says its upcoming light hatch will further broaden the appeal of of the brand in Europe. However, due to the new model's higher specification list, level of safety and engine technology, it will not be offered in developing markets such as India or China -- at least in the foreseeable future.
Fitting the ethos of other models in the range, the light hatch promises usable interior packaging for four adults, in spite of its diminutive body. Skoda says "comfort and the feeling of luxury is achieved through the clever use of space". This brand quality will not be lost in its move to a smaller product, says Skoda.
Despite creating a new model to act as what it says is a "gap filler", the Czech crew hastened to point out that they were not seeking to fill every niche imaginable -- perhaps a jab at group prestige marque, Audi.
Instead it says it preferred to remain "an agile, anti-fashion statement boasting function over form".
The Up! light hatch on which Skoda's city car will be based is a five-door, four-seat hatch measuring just 3800mm long and 1600mm wide. First shown at the Frankfurt International Motor Show in 2007, Up! will be powered by a range of petrol and diesel offerings. The smallest of these is a new 800cc twin-cylinder engine not unlike Fiat's TwinAir.
Assuming the more recent Up! Lite concept is anything to go by, there's also a chance of a petrol-electric hybrid.
Where styling is concerned, the 'simply clever' money says the unnamed model will be the first in the range to receive the new family face, as presented on the marque's 2011 Geneva show stopper, the Skoda Vision D concept (pictured).
Speaking to the Carsales Network at a new model drive of the Fabia RS and Yeti 2.0 TDI this week, Skoda's head of sales and marketing and board member, Jurgen Stackmann, said the opportunity to offer a quality, reasonably priced light hatch in Europe had not eluded Skoda.
"We are discovering new opportunities for the brand all the time, and we are clearly focussed on opportunities in markets that feed on brand and brand feel... For us an A zero [segment] car will fit that profile here [in Europe]," explained Stackmann.
"You'll see a lot happen with this brand over the next four years," Stackmann enthused.
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