Designed by Jozef Kaban whose resume lists the creation of the Skoda Yeti and Bugatti Veyron under past experiences, the next generation Skoda Octavia (Laura) will look a little different from what it is now and grow in all directions.
Autoforum.cz writes that the unmistakable shape of the Octavia will be retained.
The new Octavia will be designed with inspiration coming from the VisionD concept. This of course means the car will inherit many cues from its smaller sibling Rapid. The ambition with the new Octavia is to provide a car that is of the size of a Mondeo, for the price of a Focus.
The big-size-low-price strategy worked very well for the Superb, which provides occupants with more comfort than an E-Class manages, at half the price! Moreover now that Skoda has launched the Rapid, the Octavia can move to the next class without having the guilt of leaving behind a vacancy.
The wheelbase will be stretched to 2,620mm (from 2,578mm) and the underpinning will be the Volkswagen MQB Platform. Though the car's bigger, the Octavia will shed at least 80kg resulting in improved fuel economy.
The car will be available in two body styles - liftback and wagon. Under the hood, engines ranging in capacity between 1.2-2.0 liters will provide motivation.
We can expect Skoda to bring the new Octavia either to the Paris Motor Show this year or to the Geneva Motor Show in 2013.
The MissionL concept's first bearing on Skoda India would be in the form of the new Octavia's launch. Skoda India is itching to bring back the Octavia nameplate and with the third generation model which we've discussed here, they certainly can.
[Source - Autoforum.cz]
