Skoda Kodiaq to arrive early

Skoda's first-born SUV is about to arrive earlier than anticipated.

The Czech-based brand has elevated Australia to a high-importance status for its new Kodiaq seven-seat soft roader, with the local division able to access enough additional vehicles to bring forward its official launch.

The Kodiaq, which was revealed in final production form at last year's Paris motor show, was initially due to go on-sale in Australia in the second half of this year, but will now be in showrooms in June.

"This is the first project that we have been seen as a focus market on a global scale," said Skoda Australia's Managing Director, Michael Irmer.

"Skoda sees the importance of this model in this particular market, and just how big it could be for us here in terms of growth. We have seen that Australian buyers turned to SUVs before other countries, particularly in Europe where people movers were more traditional. And that explains why the Volkswagen Group was relatively late to the SUV segments.

"The market is shifting there, but [Australia] is already well advanced in that transition. And the relative potential is high."

While Skoda Australia has yet to reveal official price and specifications for the Kodiaq, it has confirmed it will be offered initially with seven seats, all-wheel drive and an automatic transmission as standard with two engine options - either a 132kW petrol or 140kW diesel turbo four cylinder - with a starting price around $45,000.

The Kodiaq shares its basic structure with Drive's reigning car of the year, the Volkswagen Tiguan, but is slightly larger to accommodate its third-row seating configuration.

While it is the company's first traditional SUV it won't the last we'll see this year, as it will be joined by the second-generation Yeti that is due to be revealed in the coming months. Company insiders have indicated to Drive the Yeti will shed the current model's unconventional styling and will mimic the Kodiaq's new angular design to become a more traditional rival for the likes of the top-selling Mazda CX-3 and Honda HR-V.

Before the Yeti stomps into local showrooms early in 2018, Skoda looks to have a busy year ahead with the updated Octavia sedan and wagon launching around the same time as the Kodiaq, followed by high-performance RS (pictured) and Scout crossover variants in July, then the updated Rapid small car in September and topped off with the arrival of its fastest hot hatch, the 180kW Octavia RS245 in September.

- For more information visit our Skoda showroom page