Skoda Karoq may come to India

Skoda unveiled the all-new vehicle, Karoq earlier this year. The mid-size SUV will replace the ageing Yeti from the global markets. There were speculations about the car launching in the Indian market too.

Now ACI has reported that Skoda is evaluating the new car for the Indian market. Skoda currently does not offer any SUV in the Indian market. The only SUV in its lineup, Yeti was discontinued earlier. Skoda will soon launch the Kodiaq in the Indian market. To bolster the SUV portfolio, Skoda may also launch the Karoq SUV.

The Karoq is based on VW’s MQB platform and looks much like the Kodiaq with smaller dimensions. The Karoq looks much more attractive than the Yeti, which carried a straightforward design. The Karoq shares a lot of technology and parts with the Volkswagen Tiguan and comes with high-end features like 9.2-inch touchscreen infotainment system with gesture control.

The car also gets fully digital instrument cluster, similar to Audi cockpit. Other premium features include wireless charging, LED ambient lighting, WiFi hotspot enabled infotainment. The Karoq measures 4.3-litres in length, which gives it a proportionate body dimension.

The Karoq will be powered by two petrol engines and two diesel engines in the international markets. There will be a 1.0-litre and 1.5-litre turbocharged petrol engines to choose from. The diesel engines will be 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre turbocharged engine. The 1.5-litre petrol engine also gets advanced cylinder deactivation system to save fuel when the power is not needed. All the engines will offer a manual transmission as well as 7-speed DSG.

The Indian market may see a different engine and manual transmission options. Karoq also gets the 4X4 system but that will be reserved for the top-end variants only. Skoda is still in evaluation stage and Karoq will only come next year only if the evaluations give a positive result.