Skoda auto news

Official: Skoda up!grades with five-door Citigo

On this side of the Atlantic, one Volkswagen division's new product may not have a significant impact on those of another. That's because the German auto giant's brands are kept quite separate in North America. Less so, however, back in Europe, where a new VW is likely to reappear in due time as a Seat or Skoda.

Case in point: the new Up! city car, which is also sold overseas as the Seat Mii and Skoda Citigo. And, true to form, with the Volkswagen brand having enlarged its city car to a five-door, its Czech cousin has followed suit.

And so, starting in May (after its debut at the Geneva Motor Show), European buyers will be able to get their hands on a five-door Citigo, offering the same 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine (in either 60- or 75-horsepower guise) as the Up, Mii and three-door Citigo. Details in the press release after the jump.

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Report: VW CEO Winterkorn happy with rebounding Seat, Skoda

Martin Winterkorn is a happy man: Volkswagen is putting up big numbers in North America, its latest field of dreams, Audi, is breaking records every month, there are exciting cars in the pipeline - from Bugatti down to the XL1, Porsche's digestion continues, and now Skoda and especially Seat are turning in no-questions performance.

It seems Skoda has been on the ups for years, making the most of keen pricing and modern redesigns of the chassis and tech it gets handed down from big brothers VW and Audi. Winterkorn predicts the Czech brand will just about double its 2010 sales by 2018, going from 762,000 to 1.5 million.

Seat, on the other hand, wasn't just on the hotseat a year-and-a-half ago, phrases like "uncertain future" - code for "possible demise" - were rumbling in the background. A new CEO was brought in, new money and new models were thrown against the wall, and the efforts have stuck. The Spanish brand has hit three strong chords with Winterkorn, with increased sales, strong performance in China and anticipated models due. If this keeps up there won't be much left for him to do but, a la Alexander the Great, break down and cry with no worlds left to conquer.

Official: Skoda hints at what's to come from Volkswagen with S2000 WRC title

To the outsider, it would be all too easy to forget that the FIA World Rally Championship has more than one class. Just like Le Mans endurance racing has various LMP and GT racing categories, and NASCAR has the Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series, so too does the WRC have more than one tier. So while the Sebastien Loeb and the Citroën World Rally Team were locking up their seventh title in the top tier of the championship, Skoda took its first title in the Super 2000 category as its Finnish crew Juho Hänninen and Mikko Markkula won took a class win and 10th overall in the RACC Rally of Spain this past weekend.

So what, who cares, you ask? Well you'd be forgiven for dismissing an overseas automaker (whose products we don't even get here) winning a second-tier rally series that doesn't come here, either. (Mexico's the closest stage on this year's calendar.) But we'll tell you why it matters: Skoda's sister (or parent) company Volkswagen is entering the top-tier WRC next season with the new Polo R. And while VW has enjoyed much success in rally-raid events like Dakar, the WRC is an entirely different beast.

In order to prepare for its assault on the most world's foremost rally series, Volkswagen has been looking to Skoda's program to test out everything from machinery to personnel. And given that Skoda - whose motorsport division celebrates its 110th anniversary this year - has come out on top, we could be looking at a very serious contender from Wolfsburg for next year's championship.

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Official: Volkswagen Group names Paefgen head of classics program

You may remember the name Franz-Josef Paefgen. Until recently, the German engineer and executive was head of both Bentley and Bugatti. Before that he was chief executive of Audi, after working for several years at Ford. He technically "retired" earlier this year, but like the cars he helped create, an executive like Paefgen could never really retire. So it should come as little surprise that the Volkswagen Group has named Dr. Paefgen head of its Classic program.

In his new capacity, Paefgen will oversee the historic automobile activities of the entire VW Group, including those of Volkswagen, Seat, Skoda, Audi, Lamborghini, and of course Bentley and Bugatti. It strikes us as a suitable semi-retirement for the man responsible in no small part for the Bugatti Veyron and Bentley Mulsanne, to name just two, and who was decorated in 2006 by the ACO as the "Spirit of Le Mans" for his contribution to endurance racing. Read the official announcement after the break.

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Report: Skoda nixes prospect of building a sportscar

We have to admit we were more than a little bit intrigued when Skoda showed up at Wörthersee this year with the Fabia RS 2000 roadster you see here. The concept essentially took the company's S2000 rally machine, gave it a fresh coat of Kermit and chopped off the roof... with four seats and four doors still intact. But could such a vehicle ever be produced?

According to the latest reports from across the pond, the answer, quite simply, is "no". Apparently Skoda is fixated on reaching its sales targets, and while something could certainly be said for a halo vehicle - particularly one based on one of its top-selling volume models - the Czech automaker is not keen on distracting itself from the task at hand. (We'll just have to admire it from the updated high-res image gallery, then.)

That's a bit of a shame, especially since the VW subsidiary's line-up is, well, rather conservative. But don't go thinking that Skoda is about to give up on performance-oriented models altogether, though: the company will continue developing and producing its vRS line of hot hatches and sedans, like the Fabia, Octavia and even the upcoming production version of the MissionL concept debuted in Frankfurt. A Superb vRS performance sedan, however, is reportedly not in the cards, as the executive saloon is just too big to fit the bill.

Official: Skoda unveils Volkswagen Up!-based Citigo

This is the all-new Skoda Citigo, and if you're thinking that it looks rather familiar, that's because its Volkswagen-badged kin recently debuted at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. That's right, the long-rumored Skoda version of Volkswagen's new Up! city car has finally arrived.

Buyers will have a choice of two 1.0-liter three-cylinder engines - one with 59 horsepower, the other with a 74 hp and a blistering 106 mph top speed - both mated to a five-speed manual transmission. Powerful they are not, but these three-bangers should prove to be extremely efficient, with Skoda quoting fuel economy numbers of 62.8 and 60.1 miles per gallon, respectively (on the European cycle).

Being a Skoda, the Citigo will go on sale in its home market of the Czech Republic this fall, with the rest of Europe getting the car next summer. Follow the jump for Skoda's official release.

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Frankfurt: Skoda MissionL concept provides glimpse at Czech automaker's future

Skoda has taken its place on the floor of the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, and Volkswagen's Czech arm has brought a new concept sedan along for the ride. Called MissionL, the crisp but conservative Skoda four-door concept is an almost-ready peek at the upcoming production model.

The Skoda MissionL is expected to slot in the lineup between the Fabia and the Octavia, models North Americans know best Volkswagen Polo and Jetta derivatives. The automaker plans to launch its MissionL first in India, with units arriving there by the end of 2011. After that, Skoda will provide the MissionL to markets in Europe, Russia and China sometime in 2012.

Skoda is using the MissionL concept to provide hints at the styling direction for future Skoda models. These new models are stepping stones that the automaker will have to land on as it attempts to hit a heady 1.5 million global sales by the year 2018.

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Official: Skoda teases MissionL concept ahead of Frankfurt debut

Of all of the divisions under the Volkswagen Group's vast corporate umbrella, Skoda's wouldn't exactly be what you'd call the most exciting. But the Czech automaker is working on improving that. Skoda plans on releasing a new product every six months for the next two years, and this is the first in its new model offensive.

Called the MissionL, what you see here is a concept car, but one in which - according to Skoda, at least - will lead directly to a new production model. The styling already looks edgier than the company's existing range of models, and will be unveiled next week at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

After that, the MissionL is set to be turned into a new production five-door liftback targeted at the European, Russian and Chinese markets, with a sedan version headed to India. We'll reserve judgement for when we see the show car up close, but if this is a sign of what's to come from Skoda, it looks to be a rather sharp sign indeed.

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Official: Skoda tops 227 mph, claims 2.0-liter production speed record at Bonneville

If you thought a 202-mph run seemed like a hell of a pace for a Škoda Octavia, hold on to your hats, folks, because the Czech automaker's team at Bonneville has set a new record.

With a beefed-up turbocharger and intercooler, enhanced aerodynamics and the requisite safety modifications, the 600-horsepower Octavia vRS Bonneville Special set the record in the 2.0-liter forced-induction production car category with a certified 227.070 mph run. Actually, the Škoda hit a top speed of 228.647 mph through the traps on the return run, but as per regulations, that was averaged out with the 225.513 mph it hit on the five-mile run out across the salt flats.

Any way you look at it, that's one heck of a run, claiming the record for Škoda and helping it celebrate the tenth anniversary of its vRS performance badge. Follow the jump for the official announcement and scope out the updated image gallery for more.

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Official: Skoda Octavia vRS blows past 200 mph at Bonneville

There are places you expect to find a Škoda, and places you don't. European streets, for example, fall squarely into the former category. Dried up lake beds in the United States, however, belong firmly in the latter. But someone forgot to tell that to the people who make the Czech Volkswagen derivatives.

In between ripping the top off the Fabia for the Wörthersee show and preparing to enter the British Touring Car Championship, that cadre of lead-footed Škoda personnel announced their intention to take the Octavia to the slat flats at Bonneville. The occasion was the tenth anniversary of the automaker's vRS performance brand, and while their target - breaching 200 miles per hour - may have seemed distant to anyone who's ever sat in the old Jetta with new clothes, they got theirs.

The world's fastest Škoda achieved an official run of 202.15 mph four days ahead of schedule at the [currently ongoing] Bonneville Speed Week. The Octavia vRS with which they did it was aerodynamically optimized, dropped closer to the ground, reinforced with a roll cage and other safety equipment and fitted with a larger turbocharger and intercooler. Otherwise, however, it's the same Octavia vRS available at dealers overseas.

Far from calling it a day and heading back to the Czech Republic, Škoda's Bonneville team are sticking around in pursuit of the 2.0-liter production car land speed record, which currently stands at 216 mph. We'll be watching, but in the meantime you can follow the jump for the full press release and scope out the images in the gallery for more.

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