Skoda Octavia 2020 revealed: Everything you need to know

More spacious, safer, better connected and a more emotive design, the all-new Skoda Octavia is longer and wider than its predecessor, has an even larger boot and features a new Skoda design language. The new interior combines an excellent amount of space and outstanding functionality with high-quality materials and clever details. Innovative connectivity and new assistance systems raise the comfort and safety of the brand’s icon to an even higher level.

Skoda’s CEO, Bernhard Maier, said, “For Skoda, the Octavia is of immense importance. That’s why we’ve completely redeveloped this car. The outcome is the best Octavia of all time – it is even more spacious, even more practical and even safer than ever before. By unveiling its latest generation just in time for the model’s 60^th anniversary, we have taken a major step forward. The Octavia has significantly contributed to the positive development of the company and brand over the last six decades. I am very confident that the new generation will play its part in maintaining this positive development.”

Now in its fourth generation, since the modern-day Octavia’s launched in 1996, the model is the bestselling Skoda ever with more than seven million cars produced. Its popularity remains high thanks to its latest design and technology features, efficiency and practicality; it also offers exceptional amounts of space and value for money.

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Skoda Octavia: Spaciousness & Design

The new Octavia’s latest developments has made the car more emotive and dynamic than its successful predecessor. At a length of 4,689 mm, the hatch is 19 mm and the estate 22 mm longer than the third-generation model. Its width has increased by 15 mm. The estate’s boot capacity, which is the largest in the segment, has increased by 30 l to 640 l. The hatch has a capacity of 600 l – 10 l more than the previous generation.

The new front apron and the razor-sharp, narrower, new headlights feature LED technology for low beam, high beam and daytime running lights as standard. The tail lights, brake lights and fog lights make use of LED technology as well. The newly designed, shallow roof rails emphasise the elongated silhouette of the Octavia estate, while the hatch looks similar to a coupé. Alloy wheels measuring up to 19 inches lend all of the model variants a powerful appearance. Crystal Black, Lava Blue and Titan Blue have been newly added to the range of paint finishes; a Dynamic package is an optional extra and chrome window frames, as well as Elox roof rails, are also available.

Skoda Octavia: Interior & Dashboard

In the newly designed interior, the Octavia offers a new two-spoke steering wheel, which can be heated as an option. If ordered as a multifunction variant it comes with new control buttons and knurled scroll wheels, allowing drivers to operate a total of 14 different functions without removing their hands.

The redesigned modular dashboard has been arranged in different levels featuring a large, free-standing central display. The centre console is elegant, uncluttered and adorned with chrome details – as are the new door trims and handles. New and soft-touch materials lend the interior a premium look. The new LED ambient lighting indirectly illuminates the front doors, dashboard and footwells. The driver can choose up to 30 RGB colours and can assign a different colour to the dashboard and front doors than to the footwell. In addition, they can select from coordinated lighting scenarios.

Skoda Octavia: Head-up display & Seats

For the first time in the Octavia, Ergo seats are available as an option and offer an electric massage function. In the top trim level, they can also be ventilated and bear the seal of approval from the German Campaign for Healthier Backs. The optional head-up display is another first for a Skoda. It projects the most important information such as speed, navigation, detected traffic signs and activated driver assistance systems directly onto the windscreen.

The optional keyless vehicle entry system (KESSY) allows any one of the car’s four doors to be opened first. The standard equipment also includes electric side windows and an electromechanical parking brake. The Skoda Octavia is now available with acoustic side windows at the front, which reduce road noise in the cabin even further. Tri-zone Climatronic also makes its debut in the Octavia.

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Skoda Octavia: Transmission & Technology

The new Octavia is the first Skoda ever to use shift-by-wire technology to operate the DSG, which electronically transmits the driver’s gear selection to the transmission. In place of the familiar DSG lever, there is a new control module located in the centre console with a small rocker switch for selecting the drive modes and a button for the parking mode. Innovative full LED Matrix headlights are available as an option allowing the driver to leave the high beam on at all times without dazzling other road users. Full LED tail lights featuring crystalline elements, dynamic indicators and the animated Coming/Leaving Home function are another option.

A whole range of new safety systems such as Collision Avoidance Assist, Turn Assist, Exit Warning and the Local Traffic Warning function are also making their debut at Skoda. The all-new Octavia now includes Area View, Side Assist and Predictive Cruise Control, which – together with the updated version of Traffic Sign Recognition as well as Adaptive Lane Assist, Traffic Jam Assist and Emergency Assist – forms the comprehensive Travel Assist system. Hands-on Detect system also checks whether the driver is touching the steering wheel consistently. Up to nine airbags, including a driver knee airbag and rear side airbags, protect occupants in the event of a collision.

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Skoda Octavia: Powertrain

For the first time, the Octavia line-up includes a plug‑in hybrid, the Octavia iV, as well as the Octavia vRS iV. In the Octavia iV, a 1.4 TSI petrol engine and an electric motor deliver a combined power output of 150 kW (204 PS). With a capacity of 37 Ah providing 13 kWh of energy, the high-voltage lithium-ion battery allows for an electric range of up to 60 km in the WLTP cycle*. Some of the petrol engines, which have been further optimised, are now equipped with innovative mild hybrid technology while the diesel engines come from the latest EVO generation and emit up to 80 per cent less nitrogen oxide. The plethora of powertrains deliver outputs ranging from 81 kW (110 PS) to 150 kW (204 PS).

The e-TEC variants fitted with either of the latest EVO-generation 1.0 TSI or 1.5 TSI petrol engines feature mild hybrid technology when equipped with DSG. Using a 48-volt belt-driven starter motor and a 48-volt lithium-ion battery it is possible to recover brake energy, support the combustion engine by providing it with an electric boost, and to coast with the engine completely switched off.

The 2.0 TDI EVO diesel engines apply a new ‘twin dosing’ exhaust gas treatment, where AdBlue is injected specifically in front of the two catalytic converters, which are arranged one after the other. Dynamic Chassis Control including Driving Mode Select (optional), now comes with slider controls within the different driving modes allowing the driver to change individual parameters such as the suspension, damping and steering characteristics or the operation of the DSG to suit their preferences.

Skoda Octavia: Infotainment System

The Octavia offers a choice of four infotainment systems from the latest generation with screens measuring from 8.25 to 10 inches. Some of them can be operated using gesture control or by voice via the Laura Skoda Digital Assistant. The top-of-the-range Columbus infotainment system can – for the first time – display the navigation system’s maps in a different level of zoom than the 10.25-inch Virtual Cockpit. This new function can be adjusted via an innovative touch slider located below the display and can also be used to control the volume.

The Octavia is always online thanks to a built-in eSIM, enabling access to the latest Skoda Connect mobile online services. These include eCall, a comprehensive remote vehicle access and infotainment apps backed by online data, which is mandatory in the EU. The car features up to five USB-C ports: two in the front centre console for charging or connecting media devices and USB sticks, and a further three, one of which can optionally be housed in the overhead console above the rear-view mirror for charging only. Smartphones can be charged inductively using the optional Phone Box. Furthermore, the acoustically optimised interior and the new optional CANTON Sound System ensure a superior audio experience.

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Skoda Octavia: Simply Clever System for Diesels

For diesel cars, the range of the brand-typical Simply Clever features now also includes a convenient filler tube for AdBlue enabling it to be filled up using a lorry pump nozzle. In the rear, two smartphone storage pockets on the front seatbacks are seen for the first time at Skoda. The Sleep package for the back seat is an optional extra for the Octavia estate. In addition, new retractable sun blinds for the rear side windows make it possible to block out the light.

There is a multifunctional storage pocket below the boot cover in both the hatch and the Octavia estate; the latter will feature an automatically retractable load cover. The storage compartment in the front doors can now also feature a snow brush instead of the familiar umbrella. The funnel integrated into the lid of the windscreen washer tank is yet another new feature in the Octavia.