Currently reading: Sao Paulo motor show 2012: New Octavia set for November unveil

The next Skoda Octavia will be based on the MQB platform and is set for a Geneva reveal

The first images and details of the new Skoda Octavia will be revealed next month, a full four months ahead of its motor show debut at the Geneva motor show in March.

Speaking at a presentation in Brazil on the eve of the São Paulo motor show, Volkswagen Group's production chief Michael Macht confirmed the Octavia's imminent launch and that it would be the fourth VW Group brand to launch a model based on the new MQB modular platform.

The Octavia will be one of 27 new production cars the VW Group has revealed this year, and the fourth MQB car following the new VW Golf, Audi A3 and Seat Leon.

At around 4.8 metres in length, the third-generation Octavia will be the biggest yet; it's growing larger in size to allow the new Rapid saloon room to breathe in the Skoda line-up. It will use the long-wheelbase version of the MQB structure.

Sales of the staple Skoda are set to start soon after its official Geneva unveiling, at prices not far above today's model, despite the increase in size. The unveiling of a performance vRS version is to follow at the Goodwood Festival of Speed next summer.

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The Skoda Octavia is a dependable, quality car which is comfortable and pleasant to drive

Mark Tisshaw

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Title: Editor

Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.

From this position he oversees all of Autocar’s content across the print magazine, autocar.co.uk website, social media, video, and podcast channels, as well as our recent launch, Autocar Business. Mark regularly interviews the very top global executives in the automotive industry, telling their stories and holding them to account, meeting them at shows and events around the world.

Mark is a Car of the Year juror, a prestigious annual award that Autocar is one of the main sponsors of. He has made media appearances on the likes of the BBC, and contributed to titles including What Car?Move Electric and Pistonheads, and has written a column for The Sun.

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rpf72 22 October 2012

Always had a soft spot for

Always had a soft spot for the Octavia as I like its unpretentious image.Drove a mk1 model for a month while on the taxis and loved it.Pity 2 people threw up in the back of it on the same night.

Abarthuk.com 22 October 2012

Are you sure it's going to be

Are you sure it's going to be 4.8m?  The Superb is 4.8m and thats massive.

Scaling up the image of the disguised car by using the size of the wheels for calculation eg 18" in this case off of the existing vRS then the car looks to be more like 4.5m

Orangewheels 22 October 2012

wrong name

wouldnt it make more sense if they just called it the Skoda Minicab, or maybe the Skoda Privatehire?

Maybe a customisation programme where rather than bonnet stripes, the owner can choose what number he wants the phone number stickers written down the side?

 

sirwiggum 22 October 2012

Re: wrong name

Also with a weird shaped dent in the boot, fixings on the bumper for taxi plates and a badly wired removable taxi sign on the roof.

They are good cars though, which is why taxi drivers are replacing their Carinas and mk1 Avensises with them.

People buy vws and audis at a premium even though they are mostly expensive versions of what skoda builds (fairly well if the reliability and satisfaction surveys are to be believed - even beating vw and audi at their own game!)