The truth about Skoda's big new SUV

Much has been written about Skoda's first seven-seat SUV, which will make its world debut next year and has been confirmed for Australia, where it's due on sale in the first half of 2017.

But a lot of what you've read has also been wide of the mark, according to motoring.com.au sources.

First, it won't be called the Snowman -- a name coined by a media outlet that has since gone viral. Skoda has decided the nameplate for its all-new SUV, but it won't be revealed until the vehicle's teaser campaign begins later next year.

Second, contrary to recent reports, there won't be two different versions underpinned by short and long wheelbases, like Volkswagen's new-generation Tiguan, which debuts in SWB five-seat for at the Frankfurt show this September and goes on sale here late next year, followed by the first LWB seven-seat version.

The latter will form the basis of the first seven-seater from Skoda, which has been given the go-ahead by the Volkswagen Group to produce its new SUV before VW reveals its first 'Tiguan XL'.

Not to be confused with the all-new seven-seat VW SUV to be produced exclusively in left-hand drive in the US this year, the unnamed Skoda SUV will – like its chief rivals – be produced in both five- and seven-seat guises.

However, Skoda Australia could opt for seven seats as standard, just like its most direct competitors Down Under, including the Toyota Kluger, Holden Captiva 7, Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento, Nissan Pathfinder and Mazda CX-9.

Of course, there will be a short-wheelbase version made exclusively with five seats and sharing its MQB chassis architecture, but that's not the 'Snowman', as you might have read elsewhere.

It is, in fact, the next generation of Skoda's global compact SUV hit, the Yeti, which will follow the seven-seater on sale globally in 2017 (late that year for Australia), in a reversal of Volkswagen's rollout, which will see the new Tiguan launched first, followed by 'Tiguan XL'.

Like the new Tiguan, the next Yeti will grow in size too, but expect Skoda's new flagship SUV to measure up to 4.7 metres long and come with a range of four-cylinder turbocharged petrol and diesel engines, although Europe's diesel-electric plug-in hybrid version could eventually be offered here.

Confusing matters further, Skoda will also build a version of the Tiguan/Yeti in the Czech Republic for Volkswagen's Spanish brand Seat, which will also reveal is MQB-based SUV by the end of next year.

Further, we're told the replacement for Skoda's quirky Roomster people-mover, which has again been discontinued here following slow sales, will not be sold in Australia.

Speaking at this week's launch of the third-generation Fabia, Skoda Australia director Michael Irmer told motoring.com.au the all-new SUV will give the Czech brand representation in all of this market's key volume segments: light (Fabia), small (Rapid), mid-size (Octavia), Superb (large), compact SUV (Yeti) and large SUV.

"The large SUV comes first, in the first half of 2017, and the new Tiguan will follow," he said.

"We have five car lines now, and the [large] SUV will make six. I think that's just the right number for us. It will open a new segment for the brand."

With just one SUV, Skoda Australia sold 2350 vehicles in the first half of this year (more than 30 per cent up on the same period in 2014) in a market of 260,000 new cars and almost 200,000 new SUVs.