As teasers go, the sketches Skoda has released of its Vision RS concept ahead of a full reveal at next month's Paris Motor Show are fairly comprehensive. Although it's not intended to be a production model, the Vision RS does give us more than a hint of what to expect from the next-generation Skoda Rapid that's due next year, along with the potential styling of a future performance model.
And as well as the drawings, Skoda has also released a short YouTube video of the design team working on the development of the concept's styling. Last week we were presented with drawings of the exterior, so this week it's the interior we're being given insight into.
In the short promotional video, the viewer is invited into the Skoda design studio in the Czech capital, which is located close to the Prague Castle and the Charles Bridge. The first designs for the future Skoda models are not only being drawn up at the design studio in Česana / Mladá Boleslav, but also in the inspiring environment of the Prague art nouveau building at Masarykovo nábřeží.
Instead of just being another futuristic concept, the RS Vision is also being billed as model using 'vegan' and sustainably produced materials such as Alcantara for the seat covers, which is a man-made alternative to suedes and leathers.
The vehicle's center console is a space-frame design with integrated shift-by-wire operation of the DSG which is made entirely of carbon fiber. Carbon fiber is also used extensively for decorative elements of the interior such as the door panels and seats, because Skoda says "this high-tech material creates a direct link to the world of motor racing." The special loop-shaped door handles are therefore said to be reminiscent of racing cars, while the storage compartments with elastic rubber bands are said by the manufacturer to be "simply clever."
Still on the sustainability theme, the carbon fiber consists of 100 percent recycled polyester, which complements those seat covers made from vegan Alcantara very nicely.
The RS Vision is longer and narrower than the existing Rapide Spaceback and therefore gives an idea of what the indirect replacement for that model will look like when it arrives early next year. The new model won't be called the Rapide though, but what its new nomenclature will be hasn't been confirmed yet.
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