Photo: Theophilus Chin
Everybody's pretty excited about the launch of Skoda's first real SUV, the Kodiaq. And why shouldn't they be? The Czech brand has proven time and time again it can offer great cars at prices that sometimes make you wonder why should you even buy a Volkswagen?
It's not only the fact that the cars are almost just as well made as the ones from Wolfsburg, but they're also usually larger and more practical. Take the Octavia, for example, which is a direct competitor for the Golf, but it feels like it comes from a segment higher. As for the Superb, that's thing used to be built on the same platform as the Passat, and yet it offered so much more room inside (it was, indeed, a longer version of that platform).
So, yeah, Skoda has been applying this tradeoff that a lot of people find very appealing: sacrifice a bit of luxury and finesse for more room and, in most cases, a lower acquisition cost. Particularly during the last eight years or so, the price has been crucial criteria in most people's buying decision, which would explain why Skoda is doing so well.
Considering all this, there's no doubt that Kodiaq will be a great success. Besides, the car basically looks just like the VisionS concept that previewed it, meaning Skoda managed something that very few carmakers can: live up to the expectations. We haven't driven the SUV yet, but we're expecting it to behave like the slightly larger Volkswagen Tiguan that it is, so we wouldn't worry about it.
As for the pickup rendering, our friend Theophilus Chin has done it before back when he only had the VisionS concept to work with. Considering so little has changed from design study to production model, his two attempts - separated only by two months - look virtually the same. Which means the Skoda Kodiaq pickup is still as desirable as two months ago, and just as unlikely to happen.
It could be that we're using a bit of reverse psychology here, repeating over and over again that Volkswagen isn't going to allow Skoda to build something like this, only because we'd so desperately like them to. But the Volkswagen group has all the pickups it needs in the Amarok and, financially speaking, it wouldn't make sense to add another one. Unlike the USA, they don't buy too many of those in Europe.
So, yeah, Skoda has been applying this tradeoff that a lot of people find very appealing: sacrifice a bit of luxury and finesse for more room and, in most cases, a lower acquisition cost. Particularly during the last eight years or so, the price has been crucial criteria in most people's buying decision, which would explain why Skoda is doing so well.
Considering all this, there's no doubt that Kodiaq will be a great success. Besides, the car basically looks just like the VisionS concept that previewed it, meaning Skoda managed something that very few carmakers can: live up to the expectations. We haven't driven the SUV yet, but we're expecting it to behave like the slightly larger Volkswagen Tiguan that it is, so we wouldn't worry about it.
As for the pickup rendering, our friend Theophilus Chin has done it before back when he only had the VisionS concept to work with. Considering so little has changed from design study to production model, his two attempts - separated only by two months - look virtually the same. Which means the Skoda Kodiaq pickup is still as desirable as two months ago, and just as unlikely to happen.
It could be that we're using a bit of reverse psychology here, repeating over and over again that Volkswagen isn't going to allow Skoda to build something like this, only because we'd so desperately like them to. But the Volkswagen group has all the pickups it needs in the Amarok and, financially speaking, it wouldn't make sense to add another one. Unlike the USA, they don't buy too many of those in Europe.
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