Following the recent reviews of Volkswagen and Audi future vehicles, this, the third of a six-part series, concerns Skoda. It will be followed by a look at what’s ahead for SEAT. After this comes Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti, to be followed by Porsche in chapter six, the last of these being the final part of the overall analysis of the Volkswagen Group’s passenger car plans.
future vehicles, this fourth of a six-part series concerns SEAT. A look at what’s ahead for Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti will make up the fifth part of a six-part series concerning the Volkswagen Group’s brands. Porsche, to be published soon, will be the sixth and final chapter.
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A segment (Mini-cars)
There is only model in this class, the Citigo. This little hatchback is built on the same line as the two other cars with which it shares almost everything apart from certain styling differentiators.
The baby Skoda is manufactured alongside the Volkswagen up! and SEAT Mii at a plant in Bratislava. The Slovakian factory also makes large SUVs for the Volkswagen Group.
The Citigo went on sale in Czechia in December 2011, with other European markets following throughout 2012. It was launched as a three-door car but a five-door body style was added during the second half of 2012. A facelift is way overdue and should happen during the first quarter of 2017.
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By GlobalDataSK130, the second generation model, should be out in 2019. It is expected to once more be built at Bratislava plant alongside successors for the up! and Mii. There could also be a car for Audi, the A1, if the existing model of that name becomes the A2 when it’s time for replacement. All three – possibly four – models will be based on MHB Evo, an architecture derived from MHB.
No Skoda or SEAT equivalent of the plug-in Volkswagen e-up! exist but this should change during the lifecycle of the next models. Expect a battery-electric Citigo to appear in late 2019 or early 2020.
B segment (Sub-compact)
There are two existing models in this size class: the Fabia hatchback and estate, and the smaller of two models to use the Rapid name.
The current generation of the Fabia five-door hatchback and Fabia Combi had their global debuts at the Paris motor show in October 2014. Due to slow sales of the former RS (vRS in the UK), there was no replacement for that derivative. This was the first B segment model to use the Volkswagen Group’s MQB architecture, which Skoda Auto is said to refer to internally as NQV. There have been reports which state that NQV is made up of roughly 50% MQB components and 50% from the previous Fabia.
Production of the third generation of this small car commenced at Mladá Boleslav in August 2014. This takes place on Line M1. The Octavia and Rapid are built on Line M13 at the same plant. Production of the Combi (wagon/estate) was added at Mladá Boleslav in December 2014.
Chinese Fabia production at SVW’s Anting plant commenced in March 2015. The car’s local debut (‘Fabia Jingrui‘) was a month later at the Shanghai motor show. Chinese market sales of the third generation Fabia five-door hatchback commenced in April 2015. Next to come for Europe and China’s Fabia/Jingrui will be a facelift in 2018, with the fourth generation car due out in 2022. The Combi may not be replaced, especially as a similarly sized SUV is to be added to Škoda’s model range (see below).
The other B segment vehicle is India’s Rapid sedan, a car which was facelifted just a few days ago. This rival for the Honda City, VW Vento and Hyundai Verna is based on the Fabia and VW Vento. Production commenced in October 2011.
The next generation model will again be built at a plant in Chakan, near Pune. Like the replacement for the VW Polo and Vento (sedan), which will be out in 2017, India’s next Rapid will be another model to use the Volkswagen Group’s MQB-A0 architecture.
B/C segment (Sub-compact/Compact)
One of the reasons for the ever expanding success of Skoda is its innovation in creating models which straddle segments. Buyers are encouraged to think that they are buying a larger model for the price which competitors charge for a car in the category below it. We see this with several vehicles, the Rapid sedan sold in China, as well as Europe’s Rapid hatchback and the shorter Rapid Spaceback available in both markets being three examples.
The 4,483mm long five-door Rapid, which is half a size larger than India’s sedan, had its debut at the Paris motor show in September 2012, a month after production started in what was then the Czech Republic. It is built alongside its twin, the SEAT Toledo, at Mladá Boleslav. Russian production commenced in March 2014. This is at Kaluga, the same plant which makes the closely related VW Polo sedan. SKD assembly in Ukraine commenced in March 2013.
The B/C segment Rapid sedan, as opposed to India’s smaller model, is manufactured in China by the SAIC Volkswagen joint venture. Exclusive to the People’s Republic, it is built at SVW’s Yizheng plant in Jiangsu province and is called Rapid Xin Rui.
The Spaceback is the one Rapid which is available to buyers in both Europe and China. Its global debut was at the Frankfurt motor show in September 2013. This car is 180mm shorter than the other hatchback upon which it is based, while the boot volume is 135 cubic litres less.
Why does the Rapid Spaceback (Rapid Xindong in China) exist? It’s certainly an odd idea but it sells well in some countries. Production commenced at Mladá Boleslav in August 2013 and at Yizheng in 2014. These cars use an update of the A05 or PQ25 platform, known as PQ26.
Next for the Rapid Xin Rui, Rapid hatchback and Rapid Spaceback/Rapid Xindong will be a facelift. These cars will enter production in Czechia and China from the second quarter of 2017, with the replacements due out during 2020. All will be based up MQB-A0.
C/D segment (Compact/Mid-size)
Here’s Škoda’s true genius is apparent: the Octavia hatchback and Octavia Combi range came from nowhere in the second half of the 1990s but today the latest generation range leads Europe’s family car segment. Both bodystyles are 4,659mm long but Skoda does not consider the Octavia a typical D segment model, as that risks it being seen as a Passat for a lot less money.
The Octavia is too big for the C segment which its maker claims it belongs to, but slightly too short for D. It sells especially well in China, Germany, the UK and Czechia. While priced to compete with the likes of the Opel/Vauxhall Astra and the Ford Focus, the Octavia is certainly not similarly sized.
SK361 (hatchback) and SK362 (wagon) have been in production since December 2012. Typically for Skoda, the cars have been left alone, styling wise, ever since – facelifts tend to come after four years of production. The updated cars have just been revealed to the media and these go on sale across Europe from December.
Mladá Boleslav was the first plant to make the five-door hatchback. This factory adjacent to the company’s headquarters is also the source of the kits which are assembled in both Ukraine and Kazakhstan – SKD assembly began in both markets in June 2013. In June 2011, Volkswagen and GAZ Group stated that three models would be built at the latter’s Nizhny Novgorod plant in Russia. The Octavia was to be the third of these, with assembly commencing on schedule in June 2013.
Production in China would follow in Spring 2014, Skoda stated in March 2013. The production model premiered at April 2014’s Beijing motor show and went on sale during the following month.
The Volkswagen Group’s Shendra plant in India began building the latest shape Octavia in August 2013. Production of the old model, which was badged locally as the Laura, ceased soon after. Meanwhile, in Europe, as had been the case with the previous Octavia, the name of the older car was changed to Octavia Tour, the range slimmed down, prices lowered and production continued for some years. The Tour, which was popular in many central and eastern European countries, has now been discontinued, however.
One of the latest car’s more unusual features is that it has been engineered with two rear suspension systems. Cheaper variants have a beam-axle for reasons of weight and cost, while pricier and more powerful Octavias have a multi-link arrangement. This system also applies to the SEAT León, another car which uses the Volkswagen Group’s MQB platform.
The Octavia RS 230 had its world premiere at the Geneva motor show in March 2015. This was Skoda’s first model to feature an electronically controlled limited-slip differential as standard. It is powered by a 169kW/230PS 2.0-litre petrol engine.
All-wheel drive for the Octavia RS/vRS became available in certain markets from September 2015. The Octavia RS 4×4 was a world premiere at the Geneva motor show in March 2016. Available as both a hatchback and a wagon, it is powered by a 135kW/184PS 2.0 TDI and has a standard DSG transmission.
The future Octavia is due for release in early 2020 and it should have a seven-eight year lifecycle. The platform will be the same as the replacement for the VW Golf which is due out about six months ahead of Škoda’s next best seller. This will be an update of MQB A/B.
D segment (Mid-size)
The current generation Superb hatchback had its world premiere at the Geneva motor show in March 2015 with production at the Kvasiny plant commencing later that month. The Superb Combi was added to the same line at Kvasiny in June 2015. The car has an 80mm longer wheelbase than the previous model but front overhang was reduced by 61mm. Some analysts think of the Superb as being five metres long and therefore an E segment model but at 4,856mm, it is firmly in the D class.
Unlike the previous Superb hatchback/sedan with its ‘Twin Door’ tailgate, the latest one is a hatchback only. The old car’s boot opened either as a conventional bootlid or as a hatchback. Skoda says the Twin Door added weight and complexity, while most owners used the boot option once or twice and then switched to the hatch.
China’s Superb retains the Supai model name of the previous generation hatchback. Its local premiere was at April 2015’s Shanghai motor show. It is manufactured by the SAIC Volkswagen joint venture. Hatchback production commenced in October 2015. As was the case with the previous model, the wagon is imported.
Skoda sold a combined 750,000 units of the previous two generation models. The company wants to sell 800,000 units of the latest model (including the Combi) over its lifecycle, which should be until the third quarter of 2022.
Development of the third generation Superb of the modern era has not yet begun. When it does, it would be unlikely if the next car becomes any bigger. Like the Passat successor with which it will share engines and gearboxes, the platform will be an evolution of MQB A/B. See below for details of a future electric Superb.
E segment (Large)
Product planners will have been looking hard at this segment of the Chinese market on and off for some time. Volkswagen is the first of the parent company’s non-premium brands to have entered the 5+metre size class with the new Phideon. There have been rumours that a full sized Skoda sedan might be added towards the end of this decade, or sooner. The big VW uses MLB Evo, which is short for Modularer Längsbaukasten Evolution (Modular Longitudinal Platform – second generation).
The Phideon is as long as the Ford Taurus, Buick Lacrosse, Citroën C6 and Toyota Crown but more expensive than these cars, so there is an opportunity for Skoda. Handily, it is built by the Czech company’s local partner, SAIC Volkswagen, not FAW Volkswagen with which Skoda has no connections or permissions for JV manufacturing.
Crossovers & SUVs
Roomster & Roomster Scout production having ceased in April (2016), the brand now has no B segment MPV or MPV-crossover. This will change but not until the third quarter of 2019, at which time a 4.1-4.2m long SUV rival for the Peugeot 2008, Renault Captur and Opel/Vauxhall Mokka X will go on sale across Europe. In China, this vehicle will take on the hugely successful Dongfeng Honda XR-V and Guangqi Honda Vezel. The platform will be MQB-A0.
Skoda isn’t entirely absent from the small crossover class, the Fabia ScoutLine and slightly larger Rapid Spaceback ScoutLine being low volume models that are available in some countries. Each has grey plastic mock bash plates front and rear, wheelarch extensions, spoilers and door sills but the effect is subtle and minimalist.
Moving up a size, there is one model split into two ranges. The standard Yeti is a crossover but the Yeti Outdoor sits higher, has all-wheel drive, side protection mouldings, silver mirror covers and black bumpers with silver-grey inserts.
The Yeti is fairly old now, having gone into production back in July 2009. It uses an outmoded platform, PQ35. The Kvasiny plant in Czechia builds this model and supplies CKD kits to the Volkswagen Group’s Aurangabad facility in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Solomonovo is another location for Yeti assembly but the Ukrainian plant is SKD. GAZ Group is a further assembler, the Russian OEM using its Nizhny Novgorod factory for this.
SVW manufactures a special version of the Yeti and its local name is ‘Ye Di‘. Longer than the rest of the world’s model, it also has a 2,638mm wheelbase instead of the standard 2,578mm. The Ye Di is built at Yizheng in Jiangsu province. An externally-mounted spare tyre is an option that’s unique to the long-wheelbase model.
A new Yeti is due for European release from the third quarter of 2017 so it will likely have its world premiere at the Geneva show in March. The next Ye Di will probably go into production around the same time. These models should be 4.4 and 4.5m long.
Above the Yeti and Yeti Outdoor is the 4.66m long Octavia Scout. Calling it this rather rather than ScoutLine signifies that it has some off-roading ability. Backing that up is all-wheel drive and suspension that has been raised by 33mm compared to other Octavia Combis. The Octavia range has just had a facelift (see pic) and should have few other updates before 2020 which is when a replacement is due to arrive.
The Kodiaq is the newest addition to the Skoda model line-up. This five- or seven-seat SUV is just less than half a metre longer than the Octavia Scout. The Kodiaq and a future low-roof five-door coupé derivative are a key combined part of an ambitious goal to be building and selling 1,500,000 vehicles a year by 2020. Roughly two thirds of the additional production and sales will come from China with the remainder to be mainly in Europe, including Russia.
The first Kodiaq came off the line at Kvasiny on 18 October but the first examples won’t be delivered to customers in European countries until February. As well as being built in Europe and China, the Kodiaq should also be assembled in India. The platform is MQB A/B. A sports RS (vRS in the UK) variant should be available in European markets from 2018.
The Kodiaq Coupé will also go on sale in 2018 but initially only in China. It will be built by SAIC Volkswagen at Changsha in Hunan province. Annual build of between 60,000 and 80,000 is thought to be about what the local market would be willing to absorb. The obvious rival will be the Haval H7. Great Wall’s sports SUV is due on sale from the second half of 2017. It was previewed by the Concept B (painted blue) and Concept R (red) prototypes which appeared at April 2015’s Shanghai motor show.
The Coupé is yet to be confirmed for Europe, even though a majority of Škoda’s national sales companies in the region want it. Kvasiny would be the logical place to build this model but the Czech plant doesn’t have a lot of spare capacity. This is due to the ever rising success of the other models it manufactures.
There is potential for one more crossover and one additional SUV, each larger than the Octavia Scout and Kodiak respectively.
Opel and Vauxhall have found a niche which is clearly profitable enough to have justified developing their recently announced replacement for the Insignia Country Tourer. Skoda deosn’t seem to agree; at least not yet – there is no such car as the theoretical Superb Scout or Superb ScoutLine, nor was there with the previous generation model. Still, with the current Superb having another five to six years of production left, a crossover variant may yet be added.
There is also a chance that a seven-seat XL-sized SUV could be built by the SAIC Volkswagen JV. This wouldn’t happen until at least 2018, so as to ensure that the model it would be based upon has become firmly established. That vehicle is the Volkswagen Teramont, which is more or less the same model as Volkswagen of America’s new Atlas. Both use the MQB platform.
Minivan
A new MPV especially for the Chinese car market was said to be under development as long ago as 2012 but things have gone very quiet on this project. It is likely to have been either delayed or possibly even shelved until the Kodiaq has had a chance to become successful as a seven-seater family car. Given that Skoda has not marketed a people mover before, a concept to prepare the ground would be expected 6-12 months ahead of the production vehicle’s release.
Should the MPV still be in the pipeline, production of this MQB A-B model would not come before late 2017. It would be manufactured by the SAIC Volkswagen joint venture and built in either Shanghai or at SVW’s Yizheng plant in Eastern China. The SUV boom and the subsequent fading of interest in minivans by most European buyers is the reason why if this vehicle goes ahead, it will be for China only.
Electric vehicles
A Superb plug-in hybrid is under development, as is a PHEV Kodiaq. The PHEV version of the brand’s largest model will use a powertrain derived from that of the Passat GTE. The petrol-electric Kodiaq also due for release in China and Europe in 2019 will likely also have this 1.4-litre turbo engine+one motor. A fully electric Skoda will then follow in 2020.
The Volkswagen Group has set itself a target of producing a series of models with a 500km+ range, a 15 minute rapid charging time and a cost below a comparative combustion-engined vehicle. Škoda’s chairman Bernhard Maier confirmed to the media in June 2016 that the company was part of this project.
The additional model for the Czech brand will be a small electric SUV or crossover, with the batteries fitting into a space below what will be up to three rows of seating. This 4.1m long model should share much with the production version of Volkswagen’s I.D. Production will likely be in both Czechia and China, with build due to start in the final quarter of 2020. The architecture will of course be MEB, which is short for Modularer Elektrifizierungsbaukasten (Modular Electric Drive Kit).
Towards a million cars and a 10.0% profit margin
Skoda is on course to break the million-vehicle mark in 2016. In October, this was the most improved brand of all of the Volkswagen Group’s passenger car divisions, with a year-on-year rise of 10.6%. During the first ten months, global deliveries reached 938,800 units compared to 880,000 in the prior year period. With 97,900 sales in the month of October, Skoda was only 200 cars away from being able to say that it delivered three times as many vehicles as SEAT (32,700).
In the largest individual market, China, deliveries increased by 21.3% to 32,000 vehicles in October (2015: 26,400 vehicles). The best selling model names worldwide were, in order: Octavia, Rapid, Fabia, Superb, Yeti and Citigo.
Over the first nine months of 2016, sales revenue rose by 9.0% to 10.1 billion euro (January to September 2015: 9.3 billion euro). Skoda also saw operating profit surge by 28.1% to 940 million euro (January to September 2015: 734 million euro).
At the end of September, the operating margin was 9.3% compared to the previous year’s figure of 7.9%. Net liquidity rose by 6.6% to 3.2 billion euro, with a simultaneous increase in capital investments amounting to 346 million euro (January to September 2015: 277 million euro).
Future model plan reports for other manufacturers can be viewed in the OEM product strategy summaries section of just-auto.com.
Future product program intelligence
More data on vehicle lifetime and future product plans is available in PLDB from QUBE.
