Skoda Rapid Sedan : First clear images surface; Launch in November

Monday 10 October 2011

Skoda Rapid Sedan : First clear images surface; Launch in November

The Skoda Rapid Sedan is to the Skoda Fabia Hatchback, what the Volkswagen Vento Sedan is the Volkswagen Polo Hatchback. Like the Volkswagen Vento, the Skoda Rapid is a sedan that has been derived from its hatchback sibling and the end result is a sedan that doesn't like like a bad design job, which has been the case of many sedans derived from their hatchback siblings. So that becomes the very first positive of the Skoda Rapid Sedan, which will be launched in the coming few weeks, in November to be precise. Today, we have with us the clearest, uncamouflaged images yet, of the Skoda Rapid images.

These images are courtesy NDTV Car'nBike's anchor, Siddharth Vinayak Patankar, and many thanks to him. The Skoda Rapid Sedan, essentially being a rebadged Volkswagen Vento features a typical Skoda front end, which is very similar to that of the Skoda Fabia. The headlights and the grille, including the fog lamps are heavily inspired by the Fabia. While the side profile is bog similar to the Vento, Skoda has differentiated the rear end with different tail lamps. All this parts sharing would probably have helped Skoda save a bunch of money as the plethora of borrowed parts could translate into cost efficiencies.

The Rapid Sedan is bult alongside the Vento at Volkswagen India's Chakan plant, off Pune and will see a 80% localization level right from the very start giving Skoda a fat chance to price the car well. The interiors will be shared with the Vento, which means that the Rapid will be a reasonably spacious car whose interiors come with a nice quality in terms of touch and feel. The engine options will continue to remain the 1.6 Liter petrol and diesel units. Both units produce identical power outputs at 105 Bhp while the prodigious 250 Nm of torque is the biggest talking point of the diesel engined variant.

While 5 speed manual transmission will be common to both the petrol and diesel engined versions of the Rapid, an automatic gearbox will definitely be a part of the equation for the petrol engined Rapid, just like VW offers for the Vento. Coming to the pricing, Skoda India has typically priced all its products slightly lower than equivalent Volkswagen India products. This means that the Skoda Rapid Sedan could also undercut the Rapid's price by a reasonable chunk of money and in case that happens, expect the already fragmented C-segment sedan space of the Indian car market to fragment further.

Skoda India will be betting big on the Rapid as the Vento has been a resounding success for Volkswagen. A couple of notable points about the Skoda Rapid Sedan is that the Rapid is the lowest priced sedan that Skoda has ever produced and also the fact that India will be first country where Skoda will launch the Rapid Sedan. Will a lower price for the Rapid eat into the Vento's sales. This is one question that we'll have a definitive answer to in the coming months.