Photo: Skoda
This week's Paris Motor Show didn't have a lot of concepts, one of them being the Vision RS from Skoda. It previewed a possible plug-in future for the Czech performance brand.
Of course, since the Vision RS is a hatchback and looks a lot like the prototype for the next Rapid, we're tempted to put two and two together in that way. However, with the way regulations are going, every Skoda might eventually go green, including the iconic Octavia RS.
In an interview this week with Autocar, R&D boss Christian Strube was asked about a hybrid Octavia and said the following: “perhaps in an RS version – because it’s a good mix between sustainably and performance. If you drive 70 km, you can drive every day to work electrified, and if you want to have some fun at the weekend, you have an RS version. It’s really nice.”
And that's where we start to disagree. We do believe that the Octavia RS might get some sort of hybrid tech, but it would be mild, like the 12-volt system Audi just put on its 2-liter diesel engines. What the development boss hints at is a plug-in hybrid, and it doesn't really sound like a no-compromise combo.
Yes, driving to work on batteries is fine, but 70 km of range would mean at least 100 kilograms of extra weight, and the Octavia RS is already pushing 1.5 tons, one of the heaviest in the segment.
However, this doesn't mean the next-gen Octavia RS would be hybrid-only. You see, Skoda has a bad habit of bundling everything under one badge. The Octavia RS has both the engines from the Golf GTI and the Golf GTD, not to mention two big body styles and the option to have AWD on the diesel.
So here, they could just be looking to steal the Golf GTE powertrain and have it as a hot-looking Octavia with red paint and 19-inch wheels. People will definitely get behind that.
But are they talking about such a thing? It's hard to tell because the hybrid model is described as having potentially more power than any Skoda model before. Currently, that's 245 HP from a 2-liter, while the new plug-in system with a 1.5-liter turbo is supposed to get 210 HP.
In an interview this week with Autocar, R&D boss Christian Strube was asked about a hybrid Octavia and said the following: “perhaps in an RS version – because it’s a good mix between sustainably and performance. If you drive 70 km, you can drive every day to work electrified, and if you want to have some fun at the weekend, you have an RS version. It’s really nice.”
And that's where we start to disagree. We do believe that the Octavia RS might get some sort of hybrid tech, but it would be mild, like the 12-volt system Audi just put on its 2-liter diesel engines. What the development boss hints at is a plug-in hybrid, and it doesn't really sound like a no-compromise combo.
Yes, driving to work on batteries is fine, but 70 km of range would mean at least 100 kilograms of extra weight, and the Octavia RS is already pushing 1.5 tons, one of the heaviest in the segment.
However, this doesn't mean the next-gen Octavia RS would be hybrid-only. You see, Skoda has a bad habit of bundling everything under one badge. The Octavia RS has both the engines from the Golf GTI and the Golf GTD, not to mention two big body styles and the option to have AWD on the diesel.
So here, they could just be looking to steal the Golf GTE powertrain and have it as a hot-looking Octavia with red paint and 19-inch wheels. People will definitely get behind that.
But are they talking about such a thing? It's hard to tell because the hybrid model is described as having potentially more power than any Skoda model before. Currently, that's 245 HP from a 2-liter, while the new plug-in system with a 1.5-liter turbo is supposed to get 210 HP.
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