New drop-top Skoda Scala concept teased

Skoda’s team of apprentice designers and engineers are readying their latest project – a roadster version of the Scala hatchback. It’s the seventh student-led concept vehicle the Czech company has produced, and it’s set to be unveiled in June this year.

These hand-drawn design sketches offer our first glimpse at the concept’s styling. Judging by the images, the front of the Scala will remain relatively unchanged; the student’s efforts have been concentrated at the rear, where they’ve designed a new double-bubble tonneau cover, an aggressive new diffuser and a centre-exit exhaust, similar to that found on the Alpine A110.

Other alterations are likely to include a lowered ride height, a wider track, a more steeply-raked windscreen and a larger set of alloy wheels lifted from the company’s vRS catalogue. Plans for the Scala concept’s interior look fairly restrained, with the exception of a new sports steering wheel and a pair of racy bucket seats.

Skoda’s annual student car has been a tradition since 2014. In the past, the apprentice-only initiative has produced a racy Rapid Coupe and a one-off pick-up truck based on the Skoda Kodiaq SUV. This year, the team consists of 20 apprentices, who are working closely with Skoda’s Head Designer, Oliver Stefani, and his team of seasoned designers from the brand’s headquarters in Mladá Boleslav.

Vojtěch Špitálský, one of the students enrolled on the initiative, said: “We are all delighted to be part of this project. As a student, where else do you get the chance to put your own ideas and vision into designing a car and then actually build it yourself? Drawing our first sketches was lots of fun, and we learned a lot from Oliver Stefani and his team.”

What do you make of Skoda’s latest student car? Let us know in the comments section below…