Zac Hollis, director, Sales, Service & Marketing, Skoda Auto India has revealed timelines for the launch of the facelift version of Skoda Superb and the petrol powered variant of the Kodiaq SUV. As mentioned on social media by the top official, the Skoda Superb facelift will arrive to Indian showrooms by May 2020 while the Kodiaq petrol will come to India by late-2020.
Under the India 2.0 project, all Skoda, Volkswagen & Audi cars will drop diesel engines with the implementation of BS6 emission norms. So with the update in 2020, the Skoda Superb could come only with a petrol engine and the same would happen to the Kodiaq. If the current 1.8L TSI petrol will continue, that remains to be seen. But we know that the 2.0L turbo-petrol motor is heading to India.
In the international markets, the Skoda Superb 2.0L TSI petrol produces 190 PS of power and 320 Nm of torque matched to a DSG automatic gearbox. This motor allows for 0-100 kmph sprint in 7.7 seconds and has a top speed of 148 mph. The same motor also comes in a 4×4 DSG iteration where it produces 272 PS of power and 350 Nm of torque sprinting to 100 kmph in 5.6 seconds. The Skoda Kodiaq 2.0L TSI version comes with a 190 PS 4×4 DSG version with 320 Nm of torque and sprints to 100 kmph in 7.7 seconds.
Skoda is all set to debut a new SUV for the Indian market in concept guise at the 2020 Auto Expo. The brand will also launch refreshed version of the Rapid sedan for India along with the new generation Octavia in due course of time. Skoda and Volkswagen are together working on multiple new cars for the Indian market to fight back for the market share lost in recent years to new competition which came in better prepared.