Skoda’s new MissionL concept car has been revealed at the Frankfurt motor show. It previews a crucial new model that will be key to the Czech firm’s ambitious growth plans when it enters production next year.
The new model, reported by Autocar India to be taking the ‘Lauretta’ name for production and previewed here in this teaser image, will fill the large gap between the Fabia and Octavia in Skoda’s current range. It will be a five-door hatchback-come-saloon, similar in dimensions to the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf and described by Skoda as being of a “compact liftback design”.
The car will be sold in Europe, Russia and China, with a separate four-door version for India on-sale by the end of the year. Each market will get its own regionalised version of the car that Skoda says will be one of the main contributors if it is to reach its annual worldwide sales target of 1.5 million units per year by 2018. Last year, Skoda sold a record 762,600 units.
Many of MissionL’s key design features will be taken from the similarly-sized VisionD concept from the Geneva motor show earlier this year. Autocar understands the concept is around 80 per cent production ready and is based on lengthened VW Polo mechanicals.
Skoda chairman Winfried Vahland says the MissionL shows “exactly the direction our brand is going to take”. Vahland also says the production version of MissionL will be followed be a new model every six months for up to the next three years.
Elsewhere, Skoda’s expansion plans include launching and locally producing the Yeti in China in 2013, the same year it will launch a “new compact model” for China it has co-developed with Shanghai Volkswagen. Russia will also be producing the Yeti from 2012.
Thanks to: Autocar
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