The new Skoda Kamiq compact urban SUV continues with the Czech manufacturer’s familiar design language and includes a bunch of new-age features.
The Kamiq made first appeared in China last year, but a powerful yet futuristic looking new model has been announced ahead of its reveal at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. The new Skoda Kamiq car gets a two-part headlight design, where daytime running lights sit above the main headlamps. A high bonnet, large wheels and a toughened underbody all point to generous ground clearance and an all-road skillset.
The new Skoda Kamiq is 4,241 mm long, 1,793 mm wide, and has a height of 1,531 mm. The wheelbase measures 2,651 mm. This should lead to generous knee-room for rear passengers. The boot has a capacity of 400 litres, which increases to 1,395 litres when the rear seats are folded down. As an optional extra, the front passenger’s seat back can also be folded down to make room for items up to 2.4 metres long.
The new Skoda Kamiq has a cabin that looks very similar to the recently revealed Scala sedan and comes with a 9.2-inch central touchscreen with an ergonomic hand-rest. An optional 10.25-inch, fully-digital, Virtual Cockpit is also on offer. The ambient lighting is available in the three colours: white, red and copper. These act as a visual highlight to the shades and coloured contrast stitching on the seat covers. Suedia microfibre upholstery is also optionally available.
Powering the new Skoda Kamiq will be a choice of one diesel and three petrol powertrains. The 1.6 TDI four-cylinder turbo-diesel produces 115 PS and 250 Nm and is paired with a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. It features selective reduction system with AdBlue injection and a diesel particulate filter. The first two petrols are two states of tune of the 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol. One makes 95 PS and and 175 Nm and is paired to a five-speed manual transmission. The second makes 115 PS and 200 Nm and is paired with a six-speed manual or seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. The third petrol is the 1.5 TSI four-cylinder turbo-petrol making 150 PS and 250 Nm. It features Active Cylinder Technology that shuts down two out of the four cylinders when possible to save fuel. Like the 115-PS engines, the 1.5 TSI is paired with a six-speed manual or seven-speed DSG.
The new Skoda Kamiq possesses 37 mm more ground clearance than the Scala sedan. It also gets an advanced Sport Chassis Control as an option. Lower by 10 mm, the SCC, with adjustable valves on the shock-absorbers, allows the Kamiq to have a normal mode or a sharper-reacting Sport mode, selectable via the Driving Mode Select which offers Normal, Sport, Eco and Individual driving modes.
The new Skoda Kamiq also packs state-of-the-art safety systems in the form of Front Assist and Lane Assist as standard. Front Assist includes City Emergency Brake and Predictive Pedestrian Protection and monitors the area in front of the car. Using a camera, Lane Assist recognises lane markings and helps keep the car in lane. The optional Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) automatically adjusts the speed of the car to that of vehicles ahead up to 209 km/h. In combination with the DSG automatic, the system can even brake the Kamiq until it stops and have it pull away again automatically in up to three seconds. More optional safety kit includes Driver Alert fatigue detection system, proactive Crew Protect Assist, up to nine airbags, including a knee airbag and side airbags for the rear seats, and the Multi-Collision Brake.
The new Skoda Kamiq compact SUV is expected to arrive on Indian shores later.
Story: Jim Gorde
