Skoda Back In Australia
March 14, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
The Skoda brand first came to Australia in 1965 with the Skoda Octavia (pictured below) and left Australia in 1983. 24 years on and its back!
The East European Skoda brand is set to come back to Australia with an announcement by Volkswagen Australia today, (Volkswagen owns Skoda). Volkswagen sold more than 21,000 vehicles in 2006, a best for the company since the 1960s.
The Volkswagen Group’s net earnings for 2006 were 2.75 billion euro – up from 1.12 billion euro in 2005 – more than double! Last year VolksWagen sold 5.7 million vehicles, including 550,000 Skodas and 905,000 Audis.
The models which are set to bring Skoda back to Australia are the 2007 Skoda Fabia:
and the relatively odd Skoda Roomster:
The front of the Roomster tends to look somewhat like a VW Golf! I am not sure how much of a success the Roomster will be in Australia, only time will tell.
Volkswagen in Europe has announced plans for a seven engine lineup in the new Fabia, but so far no word about the variations for the small car down under.
The seven engines available in Europe include four petrol ones and three diesels, from 44 to 77 kW (60 – 105 hp). Its obvious from those figures that the Skoda is not going to be the most powerful car in its class but rumours suggest that it will be priced accordingly.
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Errr… you’ve posted a picture of the old Fabia.
The new Fabia looks like a Suzuki Swift. Also, the rumour is that Skoda will launch with the three year old Octavia and new (and very strange looking) Roomster.
Thanks Sam!
Edited with the new pic
somehow I got the two confused, I like the old one better :)
The Roomster is definitely ad odd looking car, will ad a photo is a sec
^ True dat!
The Fabia and Octavia look okay,
Veedub say that the Skoda is there version of a korean company. I’m guessing it would be much better then the korean equivalents!
Roomster picture now added
The Roomster’s back windows make it seem like a VW CaddyLife.
Myke – FYI the Roomster may have Caddy styling cues but it shares nothing with the Caddy.
Roomster has Golf Mk IV and Fabia II underpinnings.
Caddy has Golf V and leaf springs (Commercial) underpinnings.
And you thought the MY08 Impreza was ugly… check that roomster thing out. Its even worse than a Ssanyong
I am lucky enough to own one of the new Fabias. Great car: compact, practical and cheap on fuel. I have a 1.4L version. If you want some photos of the new look Fabia for the site then I have some of the inside and out, but not of the engine.
Supprised there is no preview of the new Fabia on the site though.