A heavily masked test mule of the 2015 Skoda Fabia had been spotted doing rounds of the Nurburgring track in Germany a few days ago. Now, the new Fabia has been spotted testing once again, though this time, the test mule dropped much of its camouflage, giving us the first glimpse of how the third generation hatchback will look.
Going by the spy shots, the 2015 Fabia will mimic the styling of the new Yeti and the Octavia. The car looks grown up and the body sports sharper lines all around, designed in keeping with Skoda’s design language. The wide front grille and the narrower headlamps carry the influence of the Skoda Vision D concept. The rear gets a new tail light cluster while the redesigned hatch gets a bootlid spoiler.
The new Fabia will be based on a shortened version of Volkswagen group’s popular scalable platform Modular Transverse Matrix (MQB). Called MQB-A, the new platform will make the car grow in dimensions. The new Fabia will grow in size, which will translate into more space for the passengers and a bigger boot.
The European-spec car will measure 4,000mm in length, though for the Indian market, the car might be shortened to keep it under four metres. Inside, the car will get refreshed interiors and an updated features list. While the European model will be powered by a 1.6-litre diesel, 1.2-litre and 1.4-litre TSI petrols, we expect the Indian version to get a diesel mill which will qualify for the government’s sub-1.5-litre regulation. The 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine from the Skoda Citigo might also be offered.
The new Fabia is expected to be unveiled in October at the 2014 Paris Motor Show with deliveries in UK expected to commence from the first quarter of 2015. While the company will sell the next Fabia in India, the Czech car maker has revealed that it is chalking out a plan to position itself primarily as a premium brand. Depleting sales of the previous Fabia hatchback led to the model being discontinued in India a while ago. The Fabia faces stiff competition from a host of other B-Segment hatchbacks like the Maruti Suzuki Swift, Volkswagen Polo, Hyundai i20 and the Fiat Punto.
