Skoda Rapid sedan will be shedding it’s camouflage in Frankfurt. The Frankfurt Motorshow, scheduled to begin in September will see a production ready model of Skoda Rapid. The official launch will happen by year end. The official announcement from Skoda has cleared another doubt, Skoda Rapid is an all new car, not a Skoda Octavia replacement. The Skoda Rapid, widely known as Skoda Fabia Sedan is developed on VW Vento platform and will plug VW-Skoda’s gap in entry level sedan segment.
“This is a brand new car and not a replacement for the Octavia,” said Thomas Kuehl, board member, sales and marketing, Skoda Auto India . He further added, “India is also one of the first markets to get the car. It would be first displayed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September and the launch would happen by the end of this year.”
“Our new entry-level limousine would offer the best value for money in the segment and we are looking at topping the category in sales and leaving everybody behind,” Thomas Kuehl said to HT. “In every premium segment where we are present, the Laura and Superb give better quality, design, drivability and equipment over competitors and our new car would do the same in its segment.”
Skoda Rapid is expected to share engines with it’s kin VW Vento. So it may come with a 1.6ltr engine in both petrol and diesel variants. Our regular readers may remember our report on VW’s plans to plant a 1.4ltr motor in Vento. So in future we may see a Rapid sedan with this motor as well.
As we said earlier the C-segment has become battle zone for many international players. Honda has been enjoying the supremacy for almost a decade until VW Vento dethroned it recently. Last month Korean major Hyundai launched their Fluidic Verna in India which managed to fetch over 8500 bookings in less than a month. Ford India is expected to launch all new Fiesta in coming July so lots of actions are expected to happen in this segment. Stay tuned for more updates.
Update (16/11/2011):- Skoda Rapid Sedan now launched in India
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