Production of the Kodiaq vRS SUV will cease, but Skoda confirms that it will return with a new engine in the near future.
The sporty SUV will no longer be offered with the 237-horsepower twin-turbo diesel engine currently used in the vRS. But according to the manufacturer, there will be "some adjustments to the Skoda engine lineup" next year.
However, this news does not mean that the only high-performance vRS model in the Czech brand's lineup is gone forever. The statement adds that an updated version of the Kodiaq vRS will be reinstated when the car receives a facelift.
It remains unclear whether Skoda will install a petrol engine in the flagship of the model range, as the market is gradually moving away from diesel engines. The large seven-seat SUV segment still prefers fuel, but trends show a continued decline.
Despite the growing focus on electrification across the Volkswagen Group and Skoda's new Octavia model equipped with a plug-in vRS, sales and marketing boss Alain Favey stated that "there will be no Kodiaq PHEV in the foreseeable future."
"It's too early for us to see any patterns in consumer movement from ICE [internal combustion engines] to PHEV [plug-in hybrids] and BEV [battery electric vehicles]," Favey continued. "The Citigo-e iV has already been discontinued, and since last year we have only had the Superb plug-in hybrid, so we have no customers who would buy the next car. But perhaps people could switch from the Kodiaq to the Enyaq without going through a plug-in hybrid."
The Enyaq, Skoda's recently unveiled electric SUV, is the first MEB-based model built outside Germany. It promises the interior space of the Kodiaq but with a smaller exterior footprint.
More details about the 2021 Kodiaq will emerge either this year or early next year.
