Skoda Auto India has announced that the brand has commenced pre-launch bookings on the much-awaited Skoda Rapid Automatic against a refundable fee of INR 25,000 and the can now be booked from all authorized Skoda dealership facilities in the country and on the brand’s contactless sales channel, the official Skoda Auto India website. The brand has also announced that the Skoda Rapid AT (Automatic) will be delivered to customers from 18th September 2020.
The Skoda Rapid AT is powered by the same BS6 emissions-compliant 1.0-litre Turbocharged Stratified Injection (TSI) petrol engine that makes 110 Ps of power and 175 Nm of torque and now comes matched to a torque converter type 6-speed automatic transmission. The Rapid is also available with a 6-speed manual transmission. In the past, the Skoda Rapid was offered with a 7-speed DSG gearbox.
When compared to the 1.6-litre naturally-aspirated MPI petrol engine the Skoda Rapid AT offers 5% more power and a 14% rise in torque output along with a 9% increase in fuel efficiency. To put things into perspective, the outgoing 1.6-litre MPI engine used to produce 103 PS of power and 132 Nm of torque. The brand also claims that the new Rapid AT, with the six-speed automatic transmission, offers 16.24 kmpl under standard test conditions.
Other than the changes in the powertrain, other features are likely to be carried over from the Skoda Rapid 1.0 TSI MT that features dual-barrel projector headlamps with LED daytime running lights, chrome bezel vertically slated grille, a wide air dam, bumper-mounted fog lights, blacked-out B-pillars, dual-tone interiors, control mounted steering wheel, analogue instruments with digital multi-information display, 20.32-cm Skoda infotainment system with Android Auto integration, climate control air conditioning, rear AC vents, leatherette seat upholstery etc.
In the Indian market, the 2020 Skoda Rapid competes with the likes of the Volkswagen Vento, Hyundai Verna, Toyota Yaris, Honda City and the Maruti Suzuki Ciaz.
