The Skoda Superb is being readied for a mid-life facelift, with the five-year-old large liftback soon to adopt styling cues from the company’s brand new Rapid and Octavia models.
As our spy pictures show, the Superb keeps the round edges of its five-door bodystyle, but will get a sharper-edged headlight and grille treatment in line with Skoda’s new design direction originally previewed with the MissionL concept.
Curiously, the rear retains its rounded tail-lights despite the more angular front end treatment, however the rear light bezels change from a smoked-red finish to three blades circling the central indicator light.
The interior design will remain untouched, with new switchgear, dials, and infotainment screens expected to trickle down from Volkswagen and Audi products and debut on the revised Skoda flagship.
Although the Superb is not an all-new model, it is also tipped to adopt Volkswagen’s new breed of aluminium-block four-cylinder turbocharged engines, which will replace the iron block petrol engine in the current Superb.
The new 1.4-litre turbo petrol seen in the Volkswagen Golf Mk7 produces an identical 250Nm to the 1.8-litre turbo petrol in the current Superb, although with 103kW it is down 15kW. Skoda isn’t likely to be troubled by the power downgrade, preferring to capitalise on the efficiency gains wrought by the new engine – the current Skoda Superb 118TSI is rated at 7.3L/100km combined, typically around one litre more than what the 1.4-litre would consume in the large car.
The facelifted Skoda Superb is likely to be shown at this year’s Frankfurt motor show in September.
It is likely the Superb will then need to run for at least another three years. Volkswagen confirmed at the 2013 Detroit auto show that the next-generation Volkswagen Passat will launch in 2014 based on the company’s over-arching MQB platform. The Superb will absolutely pick up MQB in its next generation, which given the imminent facelift, would be expected around a year later than the Passat and all-new Audi A4.
