Skoda’s new Fabia

Skoda’s new Fabia is set to enter India by the end of this year.

Skoda’s new Fabia is set to enter India by the end of this year. Initial plans to launch the last-generation Fabia saloon have been put on hold as the car would have been priced too high to be competitive. There were further delays because Skoda was waiting for the second-generation Fabia to be launched abroad but this is about to change. The new Fabia hatch will make its debut at the Geneva Motor Show in March. It is bigger than the current car and shares its basic platform with the Volkswagen Polo and the Seat Ibiza. At 3992mm in length, it is 22mm longer and 47mm taller than the outgoing model. To put this figure into perspective, it’s almost as long as the Ford Fusion, 300mm longer than the Swift and almost 200mm longer than the Getz.Skoda claims the car will have class-topping legroom and headroom and we find no reason to believe otherwise. Boot space is class-topping too. Fold down the rear seats and the substantial 300-litre boot increases to 1163 litres.There will be three engines on offer: a 1.2-litre petrol, a 1.4-litre petrol and a 1.4 turbo-diesel. Skoda will also bring in the scorching Fabia RS which is expected to have 150-plus bhp. A six-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission is on offer as an option to the five-speed manual, but this is unlikely to be introduced here.Very important for India (and for Skoda) will be the smallest of these engines. The three-cylinder 1198cc 12-valve petrol engine along with the car’s ‘under four metre’ length means it will qualify for the excise sop, which in turn means Skoda will be able to price it competitively. It puts out 60bhp but this engine’s 11.4kgm of torque at a low 3000rpm should make up for this deficit.The 1422cc turbo-diesel will be Skoda’s trump card though. A three-cylinder version of the Laura’s Pumpe Duse motor, it puts out an impressive 70bhp and an even more impressive 19kgm of torque. So it will go head-on with the Swift diesel and the soon-to-be-launched Getz diesel.Expect the price to be pegged at around 10-15 percent more than the Getz. What you will get for the extra money will be quality levels previously unheard of in this segment, plenty of interior space and solid European build and safety. Along with these features, what you will get is a very handsome car, the well proportioned but staid lines of the old car replaced by a fresh, modern design that resembles the Skoda Roomster MPV.The strong chin looks like that of the larger and far more expensive Laura and the glasshouse mimics the Swift’s with the blacked-out A and B-pillars and a chunky C-pillar. Even the rear looks far better than the old car’s dowdy-looking tail. The Fabia is sure to give Hyundai and Maruti a few sleepless nights at the very least. It is certainly ahead of the game when it comes to interior space, quality and choice of engines. Now all Skoda has to do is ensure that the price is right.