Skoda Vision O concept - Can this be Skoda's electric Octavia? | Walkaround | Autocar USA

 

We are in Munich with Skoda's vision of the estate or the combi in Skoda speak, as their estates or station wagons are called. Now, as you can see, this is a station wagon, really large. It's about 4. 8 meters. It's a concept, though, and it's called the Vision O. Skoda says the O represents circularity because the whole car has been designed with recyclability in mind. But the O could also just be an indication that this could be the Octavia. Remember the Octavia Combi? We had that in India, too. So yes, this could also be a hint at what's coming for the next Octavia and the Octavia Combi. Now, let's take a look at this model. This is a clay model that we've got a sneak peek at before the unveil. We will have, of course, all the footage from the Unvail, and of course, importantly, the insides, because there's a whole lot new inside there as well. Anyway, about the outsides. Now, I want to point out this still is a Skoda, as you can see from that little indent down here, typically Skoda, in terms of the styling treatment, the lettering is, of course, illuminated now.

And Skoda recently debued what they called the tech deck. So this black little panel here that is used to hide all of the ugly tech bits like the radar, the LiDAR, forward vision cameras that you need on today's modern cars. That's all hidden behind this tech deck. But on this concept, Skoda says it also carries on around outside, and they call it the tech loop now. So this bit is also a technical area, can hide or house a few technical bits, and in fact, over here, hides air intakes as well. Speaking of air intakes, these here are air intakes too. In fact, the lights that you see here, they are motorized, so they slide away when you turn the car off and they come out when the car is on. And the venting, the air goes from inside here and comes out from up here on the bonnet, aiding the Aero on the car. And let's move to the side now, Aero, yes, Aero wheels, as you do have on most EVs, this is an EV. Now, in terms of the platform, well, Skoda haven't said what platform this will be built on. In fact, the only thing they've said is that it will be built on a future platform because the production version of this car is only going to come out in the next decade.

Yes. So there is still some time when we finally see the production version crystallize off this car. But like I said, there's a lot of hints as to what's coming in some of Skoda's cars. So at the side here, as you can see, clean surfacing, pretty much in keeping with the brand, but even cleaner here now. And this little bit, in fact, Skoda were quite keen to point out, is actually the grav, I think they call it from the S from Skoda. So that's a small little indicator there. And then, of course, if we move over to the rear, you've got this bit. In fact, if you look at it from the corner, it forms like a T, so a T shaped tail light. Looks really nice and cool. And of course, the lettering here is now done in red as keeping with the rear color theme as well. There's a nice integrated spoiler on top, sloping, of course, back. And Skoda says the boot capacity, in keeping with all of their estates and in fact, all of their cars, really. There's a lot of luggage volume. It's 650 liters and up to 1700 liters.

So that is the Vision O, the exteriors of the Vision O in clay. What's the real one looking like? Well, it's going to follow soon because we're going to see the production car and we're going to get a look inside the interiors, too.

So this is the actual world premiere of the concept. As you can see, there's crazy amount of interest given that Europe loves estates and combis. But anyway, I'm just going to go in and get a quick look so you can take a quick peek at the actual production version. There you go. That is the large horizon. Display, a portrait touch screen. These are those head restraints that are 3D printed, recyclable. And those here, umbrella holders in all those. And that's the insides.

Insight to There's a lot pointing to future tech in Skoda cars, and one of those is the Horizon Display. That's what Skoda calls it. A thin and narrow but very wide screen that stretches from pillar to pillar and has, of course, the ability to be customized for information for both the driver and the passenger. On board, there's an AI assistant called Laura AI. Ambient lighting, it mimics the natural cycles of the Earth, so brighter as it goes towards the day and then dims down again towards the night. There's a lot of other clever features too, like a portable speaker. It adds to the car's sound system but can also be pulled out and used as a portable Bluetooth speaker. There's an integrated fridge. Of course, this being a Skoda, there's a lot of other clever bits. Some which may not make it to production. For instance, the slide-out tray on the front. That needs, of course, safety clearance and things like that. But the concept, obviously, just pointing out to the future of Skoda's interiors. What do you think of the Skoda Vision O? Do you like it? Do you not like it? Which of these features are you most excited for to see in the next Skoda car?

Let us know down in the comments, and of course, stay tuned to the AutoCAD India channel.