This sketch is a preview of the Skoda VisionC concept that will be revealed at the Geneva motor show in early March.
Based on the same MQB platform and wheelbase as the Skoda Octavia hatchback, the new "five-door coupé" will echo the styling of the Volkswagen CC, with lower roofline, shallower side windows and more steeply raked windscreen. Unlike the VW, the new car will have a hatchback, rather than a conventional boot.
The new model is intended to provide Skoda with a much-needed glamour boost in a range that is currently dominated by well-regarded but thoroughly practical models.
Officially, Skoda says that the ‘VisionC’ design study also indicates the next step in the "development of the Skoda design language", but the firm is know to have a more rakish version of the Octavia in its product plan.
Skoda is also likely to use this model to re-boot its high-performance vRS brand. Autocar understands that it will not be used on the next-generation Skoda Fabia supermini and the Czech carmaker will make use of the sub-brand on this new Skoda Octavia family model.
In 2011 Skoda showed its performance potential when it set a world record with a heavily modified 600bhp Octavia, hitting 227mph, securing it the title of the world’s fastest 2.0-litre forced-induction production car at the Bonneville salt flats.
The company has yet to exploit this achievement in a production car, but its rival VW Group brands are expected to show 300bhp, four-cylinder models in the near future.
