Skoda Vision O breaks cover to hint at all-electric Octavia

Skoda has pulled the wraps off its latest EV concept car – the Skoda Vision O – at the Munich motor show.

Intended to hint at the future direction of an all-electric Octavia, the Vision O is a striking estate car with a minimalist interior and suicide doors. Skoda says the concept builds on a decade’s success in the estate market and indicates its commitment to efficiency and sustainability.

The next-generation Octavia will arrive “in the next decade” according to Skoda and will be based on a “future” platform from parent Volkswagen Group. This is widely expected to be the new SSP architecture which will also underpin an all-new electric VW Golf in the coming years.

Measuring 4,85m long, 1,900m wide and 1.5m tall, the Vision O is 15cm longer than the current Octavia, 7cm wider and 3cm taller. The 650-litre boot is also 10 litres larger than the Octavia. The Vision O showcases a new interpretation of the Modern Solid design that puts an emphasis on simple, sharp lines and focuses on aerodynamic efficiency, with active louvres in the front, retractable door hands, aero-optimised wheels and bonnet vents.

It takes the Tech Deck “face” only revealed on the Elroq last year and replaces it with the “Tech-loop face mask”. This features an illuminated ring that runs round the entire front end of the car incorporating sliding animated headlights. At the rear, T-shaped tail lights wrap round onto the sides of the car and the Skoda script is illuminated.

At the side, a striking body-coloured B-pillar is inspired by the shape of the háček above the S in the brand’s name. In conjunction with the black C- and D-pillars this is designed to emphasise the car’s rear space.

Like the Kia EV9 concept car, the Skoda Vision O features rear-hinged back doors that are unlikely to make it to production. Behind them is a minimalist cabin which Skoda says came before the exterior design.

Skoda’s head of design Oliver Stefani said: “We designed the Vision O from the inside out – we built our car on customer experiences. The main experience for us is the simplicity. Today we live in a world of noise and complexity and Vision O brings us back clarity and calmness in design and functionality.”

In pursuit of simplicity, the Vision O features almost no buttons but uses a combination of steering wheel buttons, a touch interface on the dashboard and a haptic feedback dial on the floating centre console. Along with a large portrait touchscreen, the Vision O features a 1.2m-wide “Horizon Display” beneath the windscreen which acts as an instrument panel for the driver and information display for the passenger.

As well as four of Skoda’s now familiar umbrellas hidden in the doors, the Vision O features new “Simply Clever” touches including a detachable Bluetooth speaker and an on-board fridge.

Sticking to the press announcement bingo sheet, Skoda makes lots of reference to “smart AI” features, offering location-specific information on the car’s surroundings or taking meeting notes. It also promises advanced autonomous driving that will, apparently, offer hands-off driving in all but the worst weather conditions.

Skoda says the Vision O name is derived from the “concept of circularity” and trying to make the design, construction and use of the model as environmentally friendly as possible. The fact O also stands for Octavia is, presumably, a happy coincidence.

As part of that sustainability, the concept makes widespread use of plant-based materials, recycled plastic and leather, and reused by-products of other production processes. It also uses “mono-materials” – elements made of a single material that is easier to recycle than composite components.

It’s too soon for any technical details of the Vision O but with the production car due to be built on an all-new platform, we would expect power, range, efficiency and charging speeds to beat the VW Group’s only current electric estate, the Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer.