Currently reading: New Skoda Fabia laid bare ahead of Paris reveal

Spy shots reveal Skoda's new Fabia almost entirely undisguised, months ahead of its official debut

The new Skoda Fabia has been spotted almost completely undisguised months ahead of its official debut at the Paris motor show in October.

The pictures show a cleaner, more modern design than the current Skoda Fabia, inspired by Skoda’s recent Rapid and Skoda Octavia models, particularly in its front and rear end designs. There’s a distinctive shoulder line, sleeker roofline, more heavily creased bodywork, and a subtle lip spoiler.

As the pictures reveal, the new Fabia is similar in length to today’s 4m-long model, but it adopts a longer wheelbase and a small increase in width which is set to improve cabin space and load capacity.

Skoda’s new supermini will sit on a heavily re-engineered version of the platform used by the current car, rather than adopt the shortened version of the Volkswagen Group’s MQB platform, known as MQB-A, which is being prepared for the next generation of the Volkswagen Polo. The similarities in basic shape between the old and new models can be seen in this test mule.

The current platform is being kept and updated for a number of reasons. It will keep the Skoda Fabia as the VW Group’s entry-level supermini. It also will ensure economy of scale, because the modified structure is already being used beneath the Skoda Rapid and Seat Toledo models and it has just been extensively updated for the facelifted Polo.

Skoda says that, while not wanting to alienate traditional Skoda Fabia buyers, the new car will be given fresh appeal in its styling and approach. Skoda boss Winfried Vahland has previously told Autocar that the new car will “major on features like connectivity, to give it a more youthful appeal”.

Likely engine options include a pair of 1.2-litre and 1.4-litre petrol units and a 1.6-litre diesel. The 1.0-litre, three-cylinder engine found in the Citigo could also be offered in the supermini.

Skoda has already confirmed that the vRS model will not be making an appearance in the next-generation Fabia, because the current car has not been a commercial success.

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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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Marcus1701 30 May 2014

New Fabia

This new Fabia is really disappointing. I know they have added a lot of fake body and lights panels to this car. But if you look at the Rapid, you can see where this car is going with the styling. I loved the Yeti because it was fun and quirky. This new trend of Skodas is odd, they seem to have lost there way.
This new Fabia reminds me of the Rover Metro and a Samsung fridge. I really hope they are using 90% of that car original body panels on this mule. Small cars like this need a hot hatch, the original VRS Diesel was great, Skoda stopped making it.
Audi had a great advertising motto, which I grew up with.
Skoda are using this
"Dumpfheit und Mangel an Phantasie"
Dullness and lack of imagination
Please Skoda, listen to your customers.
Phinehas 30 May 2014

Something is very not right

Something is very not right about those pictures. What's going on above and behind the rh headlight? In fact, the whole front end looks like a melange of different photos. The rear bumper has dreadful waves in it and there are some funny differences in the shades of paint. Also, the shadow appears artificial. I don't think this is a genuine series of photos at all. Either that, or Skoda has finally aborted and intends to sell it.
Neil2129 30 May 2014

Clever disguise kit

I won't comment on the styling (unlike others) until I've seen it undisguised, but I'm impressed with the disguise kit.
They've made it appear that there's minimal disguise, but actually there's quite a lot. We haven't a clue what the shape any of the lamps actually are, even though at first glance it appears we can see all of the headlamp units. And that crease just below the waistline is part of the disguise, so we don't know what's really happening in that area either. The lip on the tailgate could also be fake. Very clever.