Photo: Theophilus Chin
"When hell freezes over" was once synonym with "when Skoda builds a coupe SUV," but not anymore. The Czech company is reportedly going to make a coupe version of its newly launched Kodiaq, even though it will be restricted to the Chinese market.
Skoda is a brand that's built its fame on taking practicality to the extreme. The manufacturer prides itself with clever solutions ("Simply clever," remember?) that make the lives of the buyers of its products easier, while always maintaining a considerate pricing approach.
Now try and squeeze a coupe SUV in there somewhere. You can't, can you? That's because this body type is probably the last one that comes to mind when thinking about practicality. SUVs have been blasted for offering little space compared to their outside dimensions, so giving them a coupe-ish shape wasn't going to help with that.
Besides, this segment used to be restricted to premium manufacturers. Only they could pull something like this off, because there it's less about what the car can do, and more about what it says of its owner. But for a mainstream brand, it's virtually unheard of.
And yet Kodiaq has all the makings of a big sales hit, addressing a large niche made up of those who wanted an SUV with Volkswagen credentials but weren't really ready to pay the premium the Wolfsburg company asks for. Not that the Skoda Kodiaq is going to be cheap, mind you, but it will be competitively priced.
The Kodiaq coupe will have a hard time making the transition to Europe, as Skoda's factories are currently at full capacity. Even if the market were to demand it, there would simply not be any plant capable of building it.
As for its design, expect the usual sloped roof and less upright tailgate affair, as demonstrated by the two renderings to the right. Since the original Kodiaq has a very vertical rear window, the coupe version doesn't look too special. If you prefer, you could drop the "coupe" part and refer to it simply as Kodiaq's sports version that only comes with five seats, and you wouldn't be too far off.
However, we feel the beautiful design of the original SUV would actually deserve a makeover such as this, so maybe Skoda will find a way to bring the Kodiaq Coupe to a broader range of markets.
Now try and squeeze a coupe SUV in there somewhere. You can't, can you? That's because this body type is probably the last one that comes to mind when thinking about practicality. SUVs have been blasted for offering little space compared to their outside dimensions, so giving them a coupe-ish shape wasn't going to help with that.
Besides, this segment used to be restricted to premium manufacturers. Only they could pull something like this off, because there it's less about what the car can do, and more about what it says of its owner. But for a mainstream brand, it's virtually unheard of.
And yet Kodiaq has all the makings of a big sales hit, addressing a large niche made up of those who wanted an SUV with Volkswagen credentials but weren't really ready to pay the premium the Wolfsburg company asks for. Not that the Skoda Kodiaq is going to be cheap, mind you, but it will be competitively priced.
The Kodiaq coupe will have a hard time making the transition to Europe, as Skoda's factories are currently at full capacity. Even if the market were to demand it, there would simply not be any plant capable of building it.
As for its design, expect the usual sloped roof and less upright tailgate affair, as demonstrated by the two renderings to the right. Since the original Kodiaq has a very vertical rear window, the coupe version doesn't look too special. If you prefer, you could drop the "coupe" part and refer to it simply as Kodiaq's sports version that only comes with five seats, and you wouldn't be too far off.
However, we feel the beautiful design of the original SUV would actually deserve a makeover such as this, so maybe Skoda will find a way to bring the Kodiaq Coupe to a broader range of markets.
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