Car Moon

The once ailing Skoda brand is turning out to be a solid investment for the Volkswagen Group as the Czech automaker is breaking one sales record after the other. In the year that just passed on, Skoda Auto recorded is best-ever sales results delivering 762,000 vehicles, which represents an increase of 11.5% over 2009 when it sold 684,200 units. Furthermore, the company broke the threshold of three quarters of a million vehicles sold in a single year for the first time in its history.

Just today, we learned that Skoda delivered a record number of vehicles in the first nine months of 2010, increasing its operating profit by a whopping 64%. This is what most people know about the Czech automaker; that it has been a wild success since Volkswagen took over the reins of the company. But there are others -myself included- who think the real glory of Skoda lies in its past.

The VW Group's new 1.6 TDI turbo diesel is making its way to the options lists of the European market Skoda Superb saloon and Estate / Combi (station wagon) models, where it will replace the 1.9 TDI.

While the smaller displacement 1.6-liter four-cylinder diesel unit produces the same output figures as the 1.9 TDI with 105-horsepower and 250Nm (184 lb-ft) of torque, it promises to offer improved diesel mileage and lower CO2 emissions.

With Volkswagen and Audi both featuring what marketers and advertising agencies like to call "four-door coupe" models in their range (the Passat CC and A5 Sportback respectively), one wonders why the German group hasn't added a similar model to their more mainstream brands, Seat and Skoda.

Czech architect and designer Pavel Hrubyi decided to take matters in his own hands (or so to speak) and draw a four-door coupe, sportback, fastback or whatever else you would like to call it, proposal for the Skoda brand based on the firm's range-topping Superb saloon.

European market Skoda models Yeti, Octavia and Superb will be getting powertrain updates for the 2011 model year starting from the end of this month. In detail:

The engine portfolio for the Yeti crossover has been extended with the VW Group's 122HP 1.4-liter TSI petrol unit combined with manual transmission and front-wheel drive (FWD), as well as a 140HP 2.0 TDI CR DPF turbo diesel with automatic DSG transmission and FWD, and the more potent 170HP 2.0 TDI CR DPF turbo diesel with manual transmission and 4WD.

A revised 2.0-liter turbo diesel engine that incorporates the latest Common Rail diesel technology and produces 140 horsepower is replacing the 2.0 TDI of the same output in the Skoda Superb saloon and Combi models.

The Volkswagen Group's Czech brand said that with the new engine, combined fuel consumption for the Superb 2.0 TDI CR has improved by 4.4mpg to 52.3mpg UK (5.4 lt/100km or 43.5mpg US), while CO2 emissions have been reduced by 12g/km to 143g/km.

The all-new Skoda Superb Combi, a station wagon version of the Czech automaker's flagship saloon, was launched at the Frankfurt motor show. At 4,838 mm long, 1,817 mm wide and 1,510 mm tall, the estate retains the same dimensions with the conventional Superb but because it is taller at the back, its luggage compartment volume has been increased to an echoing 633 liters (+68lt over the sedan), rising to 1,865-liters with the rear seats folded down.

We're only a few day away from the official unveiling of the all-new Skoda Superb Estate (Combi) at the Frankfurt Motor Show but a complete gallery of the mid-size station wagon is already doing rounds on the internet. The more practical version of the Superb replaces the liftback-saloon's innovative 'twindoor' split hatch with a sloping tailgate that makes the car look less frumpy than one would imagine and a new rear-end design boasting a pair of Cayenne-esque tail lamps.