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Carsales Staff15 Aug 2014
NEWS

PARIS MOTOR SHOW: New Skoda Fabia peeks out

First official photo of third-generation Skoda Fabia released

UPDATE 15/08/2014:
Skoda has released two further images of the new Fabia overnight, showing more details of its sharp new front-end design, including a more angular grille and headlights.

Skoda has revealed one of the high-tech new headlights that will shine the way for its all-new Fabia, which goes on sale in Australia in the second half of next year.

The first teaser photograph of the third-generation Fabia is the latest instalment in the Czech brand's slow-release reveal campaign that will result in a global public premiere for the redesigned light hatch in Paris on October 2, followed immediately by its European launch.

It shows the next Fabia’s angular new headlight cluster, which incorporates a projector main beam above a narrow LED daytime running light strip at the bottom.

The corner of the 2015 Fabia's new grille can also be seen, showing it will connect the headlights and feature Skoda's hallmark vertical slats surrounded by a gloss-black and chrome border.

No new details of the new Fabia have been announced, but Skoda has previously announced its redesigned five-door hatchback, which will again also be available in wagon form, will be a substantial 90mm wider and 30mm lower. Overall length should remain around four metres.

The Volkswagen brand's vital new B-segment model has previously been spied in testing virtually undisguised, revealing a sportier profile with shorter overhangs, a 'faster' windscreen and A-pillars and slightly narrower glasshouse.

Other details like a sharp new full-length shoulder crease, rising lower bodyside graphic and sloping clamshell bonnet with prominent central ridge have also been exposed, showing the Fabia will borrow heavily from the Vision-C concept and echo the designs the of the larger Rapid Spaceback and Octavia liftback.

Official sources have confirmed to motoring.com.au that the MkIII Fabia will not, as originally expected, be based on an all-new, shortened version of the Volkswagen Golf's MQB chassis architecture, dubbed MQB-A, which will also underpin the next-generation VW Polo, SEAT Ibiza and Audi A1.

Instead, it will be underpinned by a modified version of the 'PQ' platform on which the existing Fabia, Polo and A1 are based.

However, like the upgraded Polo that will be launched in Australia next week, it will incorporate a range of new modular MQB technologies, including an all-new electronic architecture that could lead to a large colour touch-screen multi-media system in some variants.

Skoda's first all-new light-car in 15 years could also share the 2014 Polo's new electric power steering system and higher-quality interior components.

Expect the next Fabia's engine options to also closely resemble those of the upcoming Polo, which will be fitted in Europe with a 1.4-litre three-cylinder turbo-diesel and 66kW/160Nm and 81kW/175Nm versions of the existing 1.2-litre 77TSI turbo four.

It's unclear whether it will come to Australia, but the new diesel engine should join the existing Fabia's petrol engines in being available with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

The Volkswagen group's smaller 1.0-litre petrol-triple from the VW up! is also expected to be fitted to a new base Fabia variant weighing less than 1000kg, but a replacement for the Fabia RS hot hatch has been ruled out.

Whether the upgraded Polo's other new technologies -- such as LED headlights, radar cruise control, two-stage suspension damping, low-speed emergency braking, post-collision automatic braking and drowsy driver alert – remains to be seen.

Nor is it clear if the new Fabia will be available with fuel-saving functions like idle-stop and regenerative braking, or features like a reversing camera and sat-nav, given none of those are offered in the larger and more expensive Rapid.

A price reduction for the current Fabia in late March saw base pricing fall from $18,990 to $15,990, positioning it below the new Rapid Spaceback (from $18,990) and Octavia (from $21,690).

Expect the new model to remain around the same price point, to compete with Toyota's facelifted Yaris on sale here next month, the third-generation Mazda2 due in October and next year's replacement for Australia's top-selling light-car, the Hyundai i20, which will also debut at the Paris show.

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Written byCarsales Staff
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