ŠKODA’s Octavia sets new standards in the compact segment and reaffirms its unique position in the class. The new Octavia Estate offers unrivalled space, functionality, innovative safety and comfort systems, fuel efficiency, and many ‘Simply Clever’ ideas at exceptional value for money setting it apart from its competitors.

“The ŠKODA Octavia is at the heart of the brand and our most popular model by far,” said ŠKODA Chairman, Prof. Dr. h.c. Winfried Vahland. He continued: “The Estate represents all good ŠKODA values and has a large share in the success of this model range. With the third generation, the Octavia Estate takes a huge leap forward. The car really is in a class of its own; offering mid-class quality at compact-estate prices.”

The new ŠKODA Octavia Estate has grown significantly, boasting a dynamic and elegant design. ŠKODA Chief Designer, Jozef Kabaň, and his team have redesigned the car from head to toe. Never before has a ŠKODA Octavia Estate been so dynamic and yet timelessly elegant, distinctive, sophisticated and confident on the road as the third generation of this best seller.

Dynamic loadmaster with precise design

The new ŠKODA Octavia Estate is 90 mm longer and 45 mm wider than its predecessor. The wheelbase has grown by almost 11 cm, resulting in record room and space. “Our ŠKODA Octavia Estate offers rear-seat passengers lots of legroom – 73 mm in front of the knees – the highest in its segment. And at 610 litres, the size of the boot sets a new record for its class,” said Dr. Frank Welsch, ŠKODA Board Member for Technical Development. By folding the rear backrests down, the boot space of the Estate increases to an impressive 1,740 litres.

There are also numerous ‘Simply Clever’ details shared with the Octavia Hatch, including, a double-sided boot floor mat, the comprehensive net restraint system, multiple bag hooks, a waste bin and numerous bottle holders, multimedia device holders, an ice scraper in the fuel tank opening and a warning-vest holder under the driver’s seat. In addition, the new Estate offers a host of smart solutions which make life easier, including a coat rack and a remote fold-down function for the rear-seat backrest. The folding passenger seat makes transporting long objects easy. There is also space for a luggage compartment retractable parcel shelf and roof bars under the adjustable and retractable variable boot floor.

The design of the Octavia Estate is the epitome of clarity, precision and perfect proportions. “The new ŠKODA Octavia Estate is the perfect combination of form and function,” said Dr. Welsch.

The front view is identical to the new Hatch. The clearly structured side view of the new ŠKODA Octavia Estate works through a dynamically flowing silhouette. Additionally, the closed, clear-cut side graphic is distinctively emphasised by the high Tornado line. The roofline of the Estate slopes gently towards the rear and passes elegantly over into the D-pillar. The rear lights extend far into the side rear section and are the final points of the tornado line.

The rear is also clearly and precisely designed. The new Octavia Estate is instantly recognisable as a ŠKODA from the back view because of the C-shaped taillights as well as the characteristic triangular elements in the tailgate. Just like the Hatch, the ŠKODA Octavia Estate has two C-shaped light strips in each taillight, which enhance the graphical impact.

Innovative assistants, fuel-efficient engines

There are modern safety assistants available upon request onboard the new ŠKODA Octavia Estate such as the Automatic Post-Collision Brake, Front Assistant with City Emergency Braking Function, the Driver Activity Assistant (fatigue detection), the Crew Protection Assistant and the Lane Assistant to keep you inside the lanes. If an accident does occur, a comprehensive passive safety package ensures the best possible protection of the driver and passengers, including up to nine airbags.

The new Octavia Estate has numerous electronic comfort systems that have so far only been seen in higher class cars. These include the new Adaptive Cruise Control, an automatic distance control and the Intelligent Light Assistant, a high-beam assistant. There is also a range of completely new generation radio and radio-navigation systems.

The newly developed engines of the third-generation ŠKODA Octavia Estate are up to 17% more economical than the previous generation engines. In the UK, two petrol and two diesels will be available. A fuel efficient GreenLine II version will reach a consumption of only 83.1mpg and CO2 emissions of only 89 g/km.

Also, to be seen for the first time at the 2013 Geneva Motor show is the ŠKODA Octavia Estate 4×4 with a newly developed all-wheel drive and fifth-generation Haldex clutch.

The 15 million car threshold underlines the dynamic growth of the brand. In the past six years alone, one third of the total 15 million vehicles rolled off the assembly lines. Just one year ago, at the beginning of 2012, ŠKODA had produced its 14-millionth car.

“The entire ŠKODA team is very proud of the 15 million celebration,” says ŠKODA chairman of the board, Prof. Dr. h.c. Winfried Vahland. “Producing 15 million cars is a symbol for the great development of the ŠKODA brand. We have been building vehicles for 118 years and automobiles since the year 1905. Thus we are among the automobile brands with the richest traditions in the world,” says Vahland. In the coming years, ŠKODA plans to continue to speed up development and sell at least 1.5 million vehicles per year by 2018. By launching the Citigo, Rapid and the new Octavia, the greatest model offensive in the company's history has had a successful start. In total ŠKODA will launch eight new or facelifted models in 2013.

A class of its own

In the coming days, the new ŠKODA Octavia will be launched in the Czech Republic and Germany, while other markets will follow in the coming weeks. “The ŠKODA Octavia is the brand’s core product and outsells other ŠKODA models by far,” says the ŠKODA CEO. In 2012, Octavia accounted for about 44% of the brand’s worldwide sales. Like no other car, the Octavia symbolises the rapid success story of the brand over the past two decades. Since 1996, about 3.75 million Octavias have been delivered to customers.

ŠKODA UK will launch new Octavia in the coming weeks to the UK market. In 2012, the UK broke through the 50,000 cars barrier for the first time with more than 53,000 cars and a market share of 2.6%, a record for the UK.

Domestic investments in the future of the ŠKODA brand

For the production of the new Octavia generation, ŠKODA set in motion one of the most comprehensive modernisation and expansion projects in the history of the main plant in Mladá Boleslav. The core of the measures consists of an increase in the capacity of the assembly line for the ŠKODA models Octavia and Rapid, from 800 to 1,200 vehicles per day. For this purpose, a new body shop and a fully-automated paint shop for interior car body parts were installed at the plant in Mladá Boleslav, among other projects. This month will see the ground-breaking for a new, even more environmentally-friendly pressing line. Besides the ŠKODA Octavia and the ŠKODA Rapid, the ŠKODA Fabia is produced on another assembly line in Mladá Boleslav.

At the ŠKODA plant in Kvasiny, Czech Republic, the production capacity for the ŠKODA Yeti was recently doubled to 100,000 vehicles per year. Furthermore, ŠKODA modernised the plant in order to manufacture the ŠKODA Roomster, which moved to Kvasiny. Until the end of 2012, the Roomster had been produced in the ŠKODA plant in Vrchlabí. The company invested about 7.2 million EUR in relocating the production.

The relocation of the Roomster production to Kvasiny took place within the framework of the conversion of the ŠKODA plant in Vrchlabí, Czech Republic, into an exclusive component factory. Since October 2012, it has been producing the direct shift transmission DQ200 with dual clutch (DSG) for the Volkswagen Group. Together with the Volkswagen Group, the Czech manufacturer invested about 170 million EUR in the preparation of the plant for DSG production.

The international growth markets

In order to prepare for the planned growth, ŠKODA has also been expanding its capacities in China, Russia and India:

In China, the ŠKODA Yeti has been built in cooperation with Shanghai Volkswagen since the end of 2012. This year will also see the introduction of the Chinese version of the ŠKODA Rapid, followed by the new ŠKODA Octavia.

In Russia, the compact SUV ŠKODA Yeti began to roll off the assembly lines at the Russian GAZ plant in Nizhniy Novgorod a few weeks ago. Beginning in mid-2013, the plant will also manufacture the new ŠKODA Octavia for the Russian market. The manufacture of the new ŠKODA Rapid for the Russian market has been planned to begin in spring 2014.