Skoda is giving us an advanced sneak peek of its next generation Superb, which will be officially unveiled in February at a gala event in Skoda's home town of Prague. For now, all we get to see is the vague outline under layers of ziggurat camouflage, but the intent is obvious - already the Superb looks bigger and more imposing than before.
Under the skin likes Volkswagen Group's MQB chassis (as under the Golf, Passat, A3, Octavia, everything really...), but while the Passat is going to take on the likes of the BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Skoda wants the Superb to be the best in class against the likes of the Mondeo, Avensis and Insignia.
Well, that's the official line. Off the record, Skoda has previously told us that it reckons the new Superb will be a BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class-beater thanks to a high-quality, luxurious and seriously spacious cabin. Boot space, always a strong point of the current model, rises still further to a whopping 625 litres while there will be a surfeit of high-tech options inside. How about an eight-inch touch screen system with Apple CarPlay? Or self-dipping headlights with LED daytime running lights? All, and a great deal more, are on the menu.
Engines will range from a 1.4-litre turbocharged petrol unit with cylinder cut-off to a top-spec 280hp petrol turbo, with optional four-wheel drive. There'll also be a 190hp 2.0-litre TDI (again with optional all-wheel drive), but the mainstay of the range will again be the 1.6 TDI Greenline engine, this time with a 120hp output.
Anything else?
With more than 700,000 Superbs sold since the model was introduced in 2002, the big Skoda has been a big success but the ambitions for this one are bigger again - at least that many sales from just this one generation. "The new Skoda Superb is the best Skoda ever. This latest generation of our flagship will appeal to new groups of customers in the business and private sector. The qualities of the Superb emphasise the brand's values and point to the future of Skoda," said Skoda CEO Prof. Dr. h.c. Winfried Vahland.