[Deadpool]

Skoda India’s Director for sales, service and marketing, replied over twitter that company will not launch a new Rapid for India in 2021 rather it will introduce a bigger sedan based on the MQB A0 (IN) platform towards the end of 2021.



Source - Rushlane

[TheHelix0202]

Yes, "Mugger" sedan. They'll mug you of your 15 lakhs all right...

Jokes apart, I was anyway skeptical of India getting a newer Rapid anytime soon in future ever since I saw the other thread last year. As long as VW-Skoda can milk the last drop out of us with their decade-old-platform cars (though I'm not arguing for or against this), we will continue to have minor cosmetic changes to the current siblings on sale.



Have to admit, this car does look sexy

[Shreyans_Jain]

While the basic platform remains perfectly competent against the competition, what Skoda must do is completely overhaul the cabin. The current design looked Spartan a decade back, it looks impossibly outdated today. The entire ambience needs a change. Also, they need to figure out a way of carving a few extra mm of space at the rear seat. Also, a few years back, Skoda had changed their suspensions vendor which meant they lost their superiority in ride and handling. A return to the roots will be very welcome.

[saikarthik]

Wonder why? If you can put together the Skoda sales numbers from past 1.5 years (ignore Covid-19 disruption), their numbers were on rising thanks to Rapid's lower variant introductions and Skoda clearly knows that with a platform that's old still could put some decent numbers with good pricing and bare minimum required cosmetic and feature updates.

But maintaining this would have been generating less profits than expected and may be that's why they are pulling out the Rapid, because they can't tailor out special lower variants for a number around 1000 per month.

[volkman10]

Do not read too much into the 'No Next Gen Rapid ' for India.

There will be a sedan for India. Built on the MQB A0 IN platform. Will follow all design cues of the Global VW VIRTUS.

Volkswagen will lead the development as the donor car will be the existing Virtus.

It will move up in the segment as dimensions are larger, mostly in the vacated Jetta territory. Pricing too will be accordingly premium.

Will have different monikers than the RAPID / Vento.

Launch of the Skoda sedan will follow the Volkswagen's car, late 2021/ early2022.


ref dim:


Related threads:
Link1 (Skoda in control of VW's product development for India; car based on MQB-A0-IN platform coming)

Link2

Link3 (Virtus, the 2018 VW Polo sedan (Vento replacement). EDIT: Now unveiled)

[AYP]

Originally Posted by volkman10

Do not read too much into the 'No Next Gen Rapid ' for India.

There will be a sedan for India. Built on the MQB A0 IN platform. Will follow all design cues of the Global VW VIRTUS.

Volkswagen will lead the development as the donor car will be the existing Virtus.

It will move up in the segment as dimensions are larger, mostly in the vacated Jetta territory. Pricing too will be accordingly premium.

Will have different monikers than the RAPID / Vento.

Launch of the Skoda sedan will follow the Volkswagen's car, late 2021/ early2022.


ref dim:
Attachment 2099638

There is something seriously wrong with the length as shown in the attached image(4,840 mm). Unless, the Virtus is going to be longer than the Passat.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by AYP

There is something seriously wrong with the length as shown in the attached image(4,840 mm). Unless, the Virtus is going to be longer than the Passat.

Here are the Virtus dimensions:

[Octy17]

Could that be the reason why Skoda had trademarked Slavia name recently?
I might be wrong here but I feel Skoda have taken a page out of Honda's books. They could be looking at selling the current Rapid (with a facelift somewhere down the line) and the A0 IN sedan alongside similar to what Honda has done with the City.

[volkman10]

Next Gen. Sedans from Škoda Auto Volkswagen India.

- Will replace the current entry level segments ( Rapid / Vento) with different monikers.

- Larger in dimensions and expect it to moves a segment higher in prices

- Design cues will be from the VW -VIRTUS (Brazil)

- Will come in 1.0L petrol engine only in MT/TC/DSG combinations.

- VW will launch its sedan first followed by Skoda's.

- Interiors to be a talking point with the connectivity and features as will be seen in its 2021 localized SUV's.





Source: AutoCar India

[motorworks]

I think VW and Skoda are going to take a different route here. In all probability, they will continue selling Vento, Polo and the Rapid in their lower and mid variants. When the new sedans get launched, they would be a notch higher than the Vento and the Rapid and then the compact SUVs too would slot a little above these sedans. So this would ensure that the group has something for everyone in the form of all these cars. Since their focus is clearly not in the cars below 10 lakhs for now, it makes sense to continue selling the Polo and the Rapid. Once they see some steady numbers with the new compact SUVs and these newer sedans it would give the group some confidence to probably try and replace the Polo.

[volkman10]

Skoda's NEW SEDAN coming by end 2021, positioned above the Current Gen. Rapid.

Both Sedans likely to co-exist in Skoda's product portfolio.

[Turbohead]

They shouldn't get too greedy. It simply cannot be priced over the City which is it's real competition unless the car is the size of a Jetta, which then demands atleast a 1.5 TSI engine.

Skoda/ VW are walking on a rope if they come out with a premium pricing. It will then have to justify every penny because the City is the default choice for the masses.

[volkman10]

ŠKODA 's portfolio likely to retain the current Rapid in 2022.

Will co-exist will the new Premium Sedan in a segment above Rapid.