The current-gen Skoda Rapid has been on sale in India for almost a decade now. Although Skoda has been updating the model with facelifts all along, it never got a generation update. Skoda is now working on a replacement for the Rapid in India and it has been codenamed the ANB sedan. Although Skoda has already debuted the next-gen Rapid for markets abroad, this will not be the model that makes it to India. Zac Hollis, Director Sales, Marketing & Service, Skoda Auto India, has confirmed that India will not get a new Rapid.
Instead, the Skoda Rapid replacement will be a brand new, bigger sedan that will be based on the MQB A0 IN platform. In fact, Skoda trademarked the name 'Slavia' in India sometime ago and we believe it could be the official name of the upcoming sedan. Skoda will announce the official name sometime in 2021 while the car is slated for a launch towards the end of 2021. Like all other upcoming Skoda and Volkswagen cars, the new sedan will be part of VW Group's India 2.0 Project.
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The Skoda Rapid replacement, and all other upcoming Skoda and Volkswagen cars, will be petrol-only models in India, powered by VW Group's TSI turbo-petrol engines. Skoda have said that the 1.0L TSI engine will be the bread and butter engine for the India 2.0 Project, and so we expect this engine to be offered on the next-gen sedan as well. The MQB AO IN platform however is also capable of handling the bigger 1.5L TSI turbo-petrol engine that currently does duty on the Skoda Karoq.
There is thus also a possibility that Skoda could offer the bigger engine with higher-spec variants of the Rapid replacement. Going ahead into 2021, Skoda have their hands quite full for next year. They will be concentrating their efforts on the next-gen Skoda Octavia and the production-spec Vision IN, both of which are set to launch next year. There could even be facelift for the Karoq and some more products could be in the pipeline, given Skoda's recent trade filings.
So the current-gen Skoda Rapid will soldier on for some more time before it is replaced by the end of 2021. With that, it will be the end of the Skoda Rapid nameplate in India and it never got a generation update. It is currently offered with a 1.0L TSI turbo-petrol engine that produces 110hp and 175N of torque. The engine comes mated to a 6-speed manual or a 6-speed torque converter automatic gearbox. While we were really drooling over the next-gen Rapid that's sold abroad, we are now more excited for what Skoda has in store for us.
Stay tuned to IndianAutosBlog.com for more Skoda updates and other four-wheeler news.
