What's the news?
Skoda has confirmed that the Vision X concept car it is showing off at the Geneva Motor Show will indeed become the third model in its current SUV line-up, sitting beneath the existing Karoq and Kodiaq vehicles.
Forget, for a moment, the Vision X's grand triple-hybrid power system, and instead focus on the styling. The Czech company's CEO, Bernhard Maier, said: "Emotive design, modern drive technology and full connectivity: with the Skoda Vision X concept study we are presenting our vision of a modern urban crossover. The exterior design provides a concrete view of the third member of the successful SUV family. With this model, we will attract even more customers to the Skoda brand going forward."
The third Skoda SUV will be a B-segment vehicle, almost certainly on the same MQB A0 underpinnings as the Volkswagen Polo, and it will be a direct competitor for the similar SEAT Arona Volkswagen Group rival, as well as other supermini-based crossovers like the Hyundai Kona, Kia Stonic and Citroen C3 Aircross.
Following the company's current naming convention, the model will have a name that begins with a 'K' and ends with a 'q', denoting it's a true Skoda SUV.
Anything else?
Revealed at the Geneva Motor Show, the Skoda Vision X is a compressed natural gas (CNG) hybrid vehicle with electric augmentation, with an on-board petrol tank acting as a back-up for the combustion engine to increase range to up to 650km. It is said to emit less than 90g/km CO2, despite being four-wheel drive, and it can do 0-100km/h in 9.3 seconds, before running on to a top speed of 200km/h.
Although it's unlikely that Skoda will offer a CNG-hybrid drivetrain in the production version of the urban crossover, the Czech company has confirmed it is focusing on hybrids and electric vehicles in the medium-term - such as the Vision E which we drove a few months back, that Skoda said would 'go into production largely unchanged' by 2020. So there's every likelihood there will be a hybrid model of some kind for the third SUV based on the Vision X.