Previewing future RS cars, and an upcoming hatch.
Czech carmaker Skoda has unveiled in Paris its long-teased Vision RS concept car, which aims to show what the future holds for Skoda’s RS brand, but also a new production car. Elements from the Vision RS will be melded into future cars, but the overall vehicle will likely gestate into a new Rapid family car.
Under the skin lies an all-new plug-in hybrid powertrain, mating a 1.5-litre turbocharged TSI petrol mill to an electric motor (fed by a 13kWh Li-Ion battery), to make a combined 180kW of power. Despite its 7.1-second century-sprint time, the Skoda Vision RS claims a 70km all-electric range on a full charge, as well as a properly miserly 1.4L/100km combined fuel consumption average.
You get the usual touches expected with an RS-badged car, like an aggressive set of bumpers either end, a prominent rear diffuser, and a hatch-top spoiler that integrates a vertically-orientated 3rd brakelight. You also get 20-inch alloy wheels that look really very sharp, though the likelihood of that making production is slim to none.
Equally unlikely to make it into production (unchanged at least) is the interior, with its illuminated crystal gear knob, carbon-fibre centre tunnel, and abundance of LED lighting. There are also futuristic sports seats for the front row, which look great and seem to be rather space-efficient, but expect to find more conventional seats on an eventual production model (like a Rapid RS).
What we find particularly interesting, that was evident to us from when Skoda dropped sketches of this car, is that they’ve opted to use ‘SKODA’ lettering as opposed to the arrowhead branding on the steering boss and tailgate. This may be indicative of something, or of nothing at all, but we’ll have to wait until Skoda clarifies the matter to be sure.
Either way, the Vision RS certainly shows a bright, sporty future for the brand, plug-in hybrid or otherwise. With emissions regulations tightening it’s looking more and more likely that the next wave of hot-hatchbacks will have to feature electrification in some form, and perhaps the Vision RS might lead the way. If not for the Volkswagen Group, at least for the brand.
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