The first study for these economical city cars, the three -door Up!, made its world debut at the Frankfurt Show in 2007 followed a few weeks later by a five-door iteration called Space-Up! at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show while VW also introduced a third variant at the 2007 Los Angeles Show called the Space-Up! Blue. Even though the Up! concept studies featured a rear-engine, rear-wheel drive layout, it remains to be seen if the VW Group retains this architecture on the production versions. source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com
"Our team at Volkswagen in Slovakia is ideally prepared to provide the flexibility required for the production of the New Small Family. Four brands are already produced successfully under one roof at our plant in Bratislava today," said Professor Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft.
source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com
Furthermore, the Octavia Scout has a higher ground clearance (179mm) than the standard Estate versions upon which it is based. The Scout is available with two engines options, the 160HP 1.8 TSI petrol and the 140HP 2.0 TDI diesel, both of which are combined with a six-speed manual transmission.
Under the sheetmetal, the Czech automaker has lowered the Octavia RS's chassis road height to 127 mm while the car's weight has been reduced by a significant 20kg or 44lbs in the petrol version and 15kg or 33lbs in the diesel one. As with the Golf GTI and GTD, European buyers can opt between a 200HP 2.0-liter gasoline engine that goes by on an average of 7.5lt/100km (31.4mpg US or 37.7mpg UK) and a 170HP 2.0 TDI diesel with a combined consumption of 5.7lt/100km (41.3mpg US or 49.6mpg UK). Both engines are exclusively equipped with a six-speed twin-clutch DSG transmission. source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com
On the outside, the 2009 Octavia RS models feature a redesigned front mask with an RS logo and reshaped headlamps that, for the first time in the RS version, can be fitted with xenon units combined with an adaptive front lighting module. The RS also gets restyled bumpers and tail lamps while Skoda also offers a new metallic paint (Anthracite) and 18-inch Neptune alloy wheels. In the interior, Skoda has revised the Octavia RS's trim while the Climatronic air conditioning system gets new controls.
Skoda hasn't announced performance figures but it did claim that the maximum speed is higher, and the car's responsiveness and acceleration have also been improved due to these changes.
The new Fabia Scout hatchback should make its premiere in one of the forthcoming international auto shows in Europe. source: http://carscoop.blogspot.com
As with the Fabia Estate Scout, the hatchback model will be offered exclusively with a front-wheel drive layout while expect to see a similar engine line-up as in the standard car. That means 1.4-liter and 1.6-liter petrol engines with 85 and 105HP outputs respectively as well as two diesel powerplants, an 80HP 1.4-liter TDI and a 105HP 1.9-liter TDI.
