Skoda to Challenge the Big Boys at Bonneville Speed Week with 600HP Octavia RS

With the help of the Volkswagen Group, Skoda has turned out to be quite an important player in the automotive industry. The Czech automaker delivered more than 760,000 cars last year and aims to double its annual sales to 1.5 million by 2018. But it’s not only about sales as Skoda’s German parent company is also planning to further boost the Czech brand’s image.

In celebration of the 10 year anniversary of the vRS (in the UK, simply RS for the rest of Europe) performance badge, Skoda will compete in the famous Bonneville Speed Week in August (13-20) with a specially modified Octavia vRS saloon. Skoda’s goal is to break the magic 200mph (320+ km/h) barrier for the first time in the company’s history.

Read more »

A Photo Tour of the VW Group’s 2011 Wörthersee Festival with 150 Images

For the past thirty year, tens of thousands of enthusiasts of Volkswagen Group cars assemble on the shores of Lake Worthersee in Austria to participate in the largest festival of its kind in the world. Over the years, Volkswagen and the other brands of the German group including Audi, Seat and Skoda, have used the show to unveil special concepts, new models and studies that hint at future production versions or accessories.

At this year’s event (June 1 to 4, 2011), the VW Group prepared several vehicles for the festival including the production VW Golf GTI 35 Edition with 235HP, the VW Golf Cabriolet GTI and R concepts, the wild 503HP Audi A1 Clubsport Quattro study, and the Skoda Fabia RS 2000 Convertible prototype. As you may have noticed, the company didn’t show much love for its Seat brand which was left to display its current lineup.

Read more »

Live from Wörthersee: Skoda’s Hot Fabia RS 2000 Concept

Not that the Skoda Fabia RS 2000 Concept needed any help to draw the attention of automotive fans at the Wörthersee show, but the Volkswagen Group was t enough to bring some very pretty faces (and bodies…) to the Czech firm’s stand. You can get a better look at the car and the girls in whichever order you prefer in our high resolution photo gallery right after the jump. Read more »

Czech Designer Imagines a Skoda WRC Racecar Based on the Vision D Concept

Skoda is a brand with a long tradition in motorsports and this has inspired Czech designer Pavel Hruby to draw a study of a modern Skoda world rally car. Hruby took inspiration from the Skoda Vision D Concept shown by the Czech brand at this year's Geneva Motor Show.

The VW Group’s subsidiary was not involved in any way in this project, with the sketch having been commissioned by Czech Magazine AutoDesign&Styling. The Skoda Vision WRC project shows Hruby's ideas of what a new rally model from the Czech automaker could look like. Based on the new design language launched by the Vision D concept, the rally car features the new corporate grille, underlined by a massive air intake in the lower part of the bumper.

Read more »

Paris Preshow: Skoda's All-Electric Octavia Green E Line

[Updated] This year's edition of the Paris show will see the VW Group's successful Skoda brand unveiling its first-ever electric-powered vehicle called the Octavia Green E Line. Skoda says it is planning to create a special test fleet of Octavias Green E Line in 2011 with the goal of obtaining additional information relevant to the further development of the electric drive.

The concept model is based on the series production Octavia Combi [estate] and is powered by an electric motor delivering a constant power of 60 kW / 80-hp and a maximum output of 85 kW / 114-hp. Peak torque of 270Nm or 199 lb-ft is available right from the start.

The pure-electric Octavia accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h (62mph) in twelve seconds, while the car's maximum speed is limited to 135 km/h (84mph).

Electricity for the drive motor is supplied by a 26.5 kWh battery made up of 180 lithium-ion cells, which weighs around 315 kg or 695 pounds and is located under the middle and rear parts of the floor extending partly into the luggage compartment.

Skoda claims the battery has "almost no impact" on the volume of the passenger and luggage compartments of the Octavia Combi.

At full capacity, the battery is said to offer a driving range of about 140 kilometers or 87 miles.

The concept model at the Paris show will be finished in a Pearl-white exterior color and feature a glossy black roof with integrated energy-generating photovoltaic panels.

New Skoda Superb Fastback Design Concept

With Volkswagen and Audi both featuring what marketers and advertising agencies like to call "four-door coupe" models in their range (the Passat CC and A5 Sportback respectively), one wonders why the German group hasn't added a similar model to their more mainstream brands, Seat and Skoda.

Czech architect and designer Pavel Hrubyi decided to take matters in his own hands (or so to speak) and draw a four-door coupe, sportback, fastback or whatever else you would like to call it, proposal for the Skoda brand based on the firm's range-topping Superb saloon.

Hrubyi completely redesigned the Superb II from the B-column and back adding a more rakish roofline and getting rid of the production model's frumpy rear end with the dual opening boot lid.

Even though it's just a drawing, the end result looks quite promising. Maybe the folks over at Skoda should take a look at this.

Photos: Pavel Hrubyi , Via: Autodesign&styling

SKODA SUPERB II

SKODA SUPERB II FASTBACK

____________________________________________________________________

Geneva Show: Skoda Fabia Sports Design Concept

Skoda's Geneva motorshow stand hosted the debut of the Fabia Sport Design Concept. Strangely enough, Volkswagen's Czech subsidiary did not disclose any details on the styling study, but we gather that the sporty Fabia could be hinting at the forthcoming RS model that's expected sometime in 2010. The Fabia Sports Design model is finished in a two-tone paint job featuring black alloy wheels, fa ront apron, a roof spoiler, side skirts, a rear apron with an integrated diffuser, blacked out headlamps and dark chrome surrounding for the front grille.

Interior changes are limited to the two-tone trim, the sports steering wheel, the aluminum pedals and the sport seats.