The new Skoda Octavia will arrive in 2013, and will continue to be available in both sedan and five-door versions, as well as the Octavia Wagon or “Combi” family car. The new Octavia will share the same platform as other cars from the Volkswagen group such as the Audi A3 and the and Volkswagen Golf. The new platform will emerge in 2011, firstly with the new A3, and then the Golf 7 will adopt it in 2012.

The new Skoda Octavia will have a sporty style and we should also see a jump in quality, while keeping its reputation for comfort. The Octavia might adopt the Twin Door system seen on the Superb, and the new generation will be slightly larger, gaining six centimetres in with and being 4cm longer in the wheel base for a total of 262 cm.

Both occupant and boot space will be larger in new Octavia, and we should see some new engine technology, including Start&Stop as standard. The 1.2-litre TSI engine will have Greenline technology emitting less than 100 g/km of CO2, while the top of the range will be represented by the RS versione with the 2.0-litre TSI with 270 hp (the same engine as that of the Golf R). The Octavia Wagon will also have 4×4 and Scout versions.

Source | L’Automobile Magazine

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The Auto Trophy 2009 awards have been given by Auto Zeitung after reader surveys of about 105,000 participants. Obviously the local German cars were very successful, with Audi taking home a total of 40 percent of votes across all categories, but there have been a couple of surprises, too.

A special mention goes to the Opel Astra for its quality-price ratio, while the new BMW 1 Series won the best advertising campaign award. Across the categories, readers voted on 370 different models in total. In the small car category, the Volkswagen Polo won with 32.9 percent, while for imported small cars the Fiat 500 won with 20.6 percent. Among the mid-size range was the Volkswagen Golf 6, and for imported cars in this category, the Skoda Octavia won a divided contest, with 18.5 percent of votes.

The mid-size, top range cars featured some of the larger German models, with the Audi A5 Sportback winning with 27.2 percent of votes, and the Volvo V70 winning in the imported category. The luxury category was dominated by the Mercedes E-Class with 42.7 percent of votes, while the Jaguar XF took the title for imported vehicles. Among the flagship models, the Porsche Panamera won and the Aston Martin Rapide won in the imported category with 33.7 percent.

Continue reading: Auto Zeitung Auto Trophy: SLS AMG top supercar

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The Car of the Year prizes have been dominated by the Germans with many being awarded one of Autobild’s “Golden Steering Wheel” awards. The Porsche Panamera won the luxury car category, beating the BMW 7-Series and Mercedes S Class, while the medium to large sedan category was won by the Audi A5 Sportback, followed by the BMW 5-Series GT and the Mercedes E Class.

Among the compact class, a nice win for the new Opel Astra, beating the Skoda Yeti, which came in second ahead of the Renault Megane. In its sector, the Renault Scenic emerged ahead of the Toyota Verso and Peugeot 5008, and among the small cars the Volkswagen Polo won over the Citroen C3 and Hyundai i20. The Toyota Prius took out the ecological prize, followed by the Volkswagen Polo BlueMotion and the Mercedes S400 Hybrid.

The supercar category was dominated by the new Mercedes SLS AMG Gullwing, followed by the Audi R8 Spider and the Aston Martin One-77. The finalists for overall COTY are the Citroën C3 Picasso, Mercedes-Benz E-class, Opel Astra, Peugeot 3008, Skoda Yeti, Toyota iQ and Volkswagen Polo. Take your bets now…

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Skoda has released new images of its Skoda Superb model, in its all wheel drive version recently included in the range. The all-wheel drive version is available with the 1.8 TSI engine at 160 hp, the 3.6 TSI with DSG transmission and the 2.0 TDI at 170 hp. Pricing ranges from 28,590 euros to 36,570.

Continue reading: Skoda Superb 4x4 official pics

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At the 2009 Geneva show Skoda has officially presented the Yeti, defined as a compact SUV. It’s 4.2 metres long, and is designed for maximum versatility and functionality. The engine range has been confirmed as: the new 1.2L TSI at 105hp with front wheel drive, the 1.8 litre TSI at 160hp with all-wheel drive (for the petrol version), and the 2 litre TDI at 110, 140 and 170hp with DPF filter. The 110hp version is also available on order with front rear wheel drive only.

Continue reading: Skoda Yeti presented at the Geneva show

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The Motor Show in Bologna, starting on December 3, will host a series of important news from the Volkswagen Group, with the presentation of the new Golf Plus, that will see its international debut at the show.

Next to her we will see the Golf and the Golf GTI that were presented at the Paris show in October.

Audi, however, will be showing the world its A1 Sportback Concept, the S4 sedan and S4 Avant, also seen at the Paris show, and the new Q5. For the opening Sunday of the show, the company has organised an event featuring Emanuele Pirro, Dindo Capello and the R10 TDI, winner of the last three editions of the 24-hour Le Mans.

Continue reading: Bologna 2008 Volkswagen line-up

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EuroNcap has again put to the test some of the latest models of the last few months. Testing was carried out on seven of the cars most suited to families: Audi A4, Skoda Superb, Citroen Berlingo, Ford Kuga, the VW T5 Caravelle and the two smaller ones, the Hyundai i10 and the Seat Ibiza. All the cars did well in the test on child safety, gaining four stars which is currently the highest protection available on the market for passengers from 18 months to three years of age.

From recent research users have understood the importance of using the correct accessories for child safety during travel. However, latest studies show that 60 percent of car users still don’t correctly use such equipment. Among the most frequent cases, wrong instalment of baby seats or the wrong choice is the highest instance. EuroNcap believes these errors are caused by limited available information on the correct use of car seats, while stating that the best way of fixing a baby seat in the car is the ISOFIX system which should be offered by companies at no extra cost.

Continue reading: EuroNcap: safety tests on seven new arrivals

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After its Geneva debut here is the official video of the new Skoda, Superb, which will see the introduction of a TDI 4-cylinder Common Rail engine at 140 and 170hp, and an AFS lighting system. Some doubts still remain as to the design but the technical and qualitative components are undeniable. Perhaps the value for money will win against the aesthetic impact…?

Via | Worldcarfans.com

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Škoda has started testing the new Fabia Super 2000, the rally version of the Fabia city car. The Fabia Super 2000 has a 4 cylinder 2.0 normally aspirated engine with a 6-speed sequential gearbox, 4-wheel drive and three mechanical differentials.

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The new Skoda Fabia Wagon has been officially announced: it will be shown in public for the first time in september, at the next Frankfurt auto show.

For now there’s only one photo, a side view, of the new small Skoda estate. Sadly, the tail seems to have drawn inspiration from the VW Golf Variant. Seeing thw Fabia Wagon side-by-side with the Fabia hatchback, we notice that the tail of the hatch seems much mure lively, with an almost vertical closing line for the rear window, while the sloping third light of the Fabia Wagon makes it seem a bit “tired”.

Technical data and prices will be announced later. We can expect the Fabia Wagon to have the same engine range as the hatch (maybe excepting the smallest engines): gasoline 1.2 (60 ps), 1.2 12V (69 ps), 1.4 (86 ps) e 1.6 (105 ps) and diesel 1.4 TDI (69 and 80 ps) and 1.9 TDI (105 ps).

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