The concept car from Skoda, Slavia has been unveiled and we are here to tell you what we know. It’s the seventh concept car from the company’s in-house apprenticeship program, Azubi, which has already given us Sunroq convertible. What’s important to notice here is that each of them was based on the contemporary production model.
If you take a deeper look at the Azubi’s previous concepts, you will notice that the concepts are based more on a hypothetical future, or you will see that they try to take the existing concepts to disparate niches. The Scala-based Slavia is different in this regard, as its inspirations are the 125-year-old story of the brand’s birth and a prototype racer from the last century.
It’s a radical student-built concept, and according to the company, the annual unveiling of such a concept is a 50 years old tradition. The vehicle’s name has come from the first push bike created by the firm’s founders. The two founders were Václav Laurin and Václav Klement who produced the bike in 1894.
The company says personal mobility is a great passion for them from the very beginning, and they are always exploring new ideas to provide the best to the customers. They are actively working as the industry is entering an electrified future.
The vehicle bears some style resemblance with the 1100 OHC, the 1957 sports car from the time when the company still used to produce such things. If we talk about the structural changes, you will see a difference around the rear half, as to make way for the rear deck, they have removed the roof and rear seats. They had to face strong challenges while managing such radical re-engineering of the Volkswagen Polo-based Scala, which is the base car for the Slavia.
They worked with the team of body engineers to weld the rears door shut, re-engineer the windscreen pillars for enhanced rigidity, and reinforce the chassis. The result of such efforts is a sporty take on a car, which previously provided practicality. There is a 1.5-liter, 148bhp four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, which we have in the standard car as well. It sends power to the wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox.