O my word: new Skoda Vision O previews future Octavia
Skoda is mulling the estate car of 2030, with a sustainable interior, autonomous driving and this bold exterior
The SUV’s relentless rise has put the skids under estate cars, but this Skoda Vision O concept shows the Czech brand believes the bodystyle has a future into the 2030s.
The huge but aerodynamic five-door is a forward-looking design study majoring on autonomous driving, sustainability, an AI-powered digital assistant and a cabin that alters according to your circadian rhythms (your body’s internal ‘clock’). Wait, don’t go – it’s also essentially a design clinic for a future Skoda Octavia.
The PR spin says the ‘O’ in Vision O represents the car’s circularity, with the floor trimmed in scrap leather, plant-based materials, and seat covers knitted from recycled polyester and monomaterial for easier recycling. But Skoda boss Klaus Zellmer makes no bones about the fact that the O also nods to Octavia, the brand’s best-selling car.
“I’m really looking forward to sharing our Octavia concept car that gives a glimpse of our next-level design strategy,” he told Auto Express recently. “It’s going to create a lot of buzz and controversial discussion because the design is very, very forward.”
It sure is. Skoda’s wing-shaped grille graphic is there but stretched across the entire nose, so the designers have renamed the Elroq’s Tech-Deck sensor-and-light panel as the Tech-Loop face mask. The T-shaped rear lamps are true to the upcoming electric Epiq and seven-seat SpaceBEV, and the Skoda bonnet plinth is present.
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Zellmer reckons the “car is clearly recognisable as a Skoda: it’s a further step of our ‘modern solid’ established with the Elroq”.
But the clean bodysides, squared-off wheelarches, concave rear and exaggerated aero ducts and channels emphatically move Skoda design on, and chime with Zellmer’s intention to make the brand more aspirational. Remove the illuminated nameplates and this could be mistaken for a Cadillac, or a future Volvo V90 – if Volvo hadn’t lost its faith in estates.
Skoda hasn’t: it’s been Europe’s best-selling wagon manufacturer since 2016, with the 4,862mm-long Superb and Octavia, which is 2mm under 4.7 metres. Vision O is almost the same length as the Superb, although its 650-litre cargo bay is a touch smaller. The O stands a touch higher than both, a trend typically due to packaging tall battery packs in today’s electric saloons and estates (think VW ID.7).
This exaggerated height is something Skoda hopes to negate in a future electric estate, Zellmer told us – when the Octavia switches to the Volkswagen Group’s next-generation electric architecture which replaces today’s ‘MEB’ chassis.
“The [next] Octavia [was] originally planned for MEB, [but] we pushed it onto the next platform,” he told us. Partly that’s because consumers aren’t switching to electric at the rate originally predicted, so its three electric SUVs – Enyaq, Elroq and 2026’s Epiq – will cover Skoda’s bases for now.
But it’s also because “we’re convinced that we’ll need autonomous drive possibilities in a car. We need long range, fast charge and so on, which will come with the next-generation [architecture]. And we also know that the MEB is challenging when it comes to sedans, [with] the height.”
Developing that new platform, plus waiting for mass electric car adoption, suggests the Octavia won’t go electric until 2030 at the earliest. In the interim, the best-seller will get one technical overhaul including restoring plug-in hybrids to the line-up.
Skoda isn’t confirming any technical information about the Vision O, to keep its future powertrain options open and detail about the upcoming SSP architecture secret. The concept’s aerodynamic intent is perfect for maximising EV range, mind you.
Skoda’s focus is instead on the cabin in a concept designed from the inside out. The dashboard is dominated by what Skoda calls Horizon Display, a configurable digital panel some 1.2 metres across. BMW calls its similar system Panoramic iDrive – and it’s not the preserve of concepts but the iX3, which also made its debut at the Munich show.
Drivers can select the digital panel’s functions using the big portrait touchscreen, which also has a throwback click-wheel controller. Today’s Skodas are fitted with a voice-controlled assistant named Laura: her future self will be powered by a Large Language Model to deliver smart and snappy answers, including information about the local area or storytelling for the children.
The cockpit is minimalist and achromatic – more colourless than a public statement from Sir Keir Starmer. It features bio-adaptive lighting, which adjusts the cabin’s shades according to light cycles to complement the body’s circadian rhythms.
There’s even a Tranquil mode, which calms the screen, dims the lighting and slides the passenger seat back into a comfortable posture. Good job the Vision O has highly advanced autonomy that can “handle all driving tasks independently”, because it sounds like the driver will have one hell of a job staying awake.
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