Škoda Rapid: the car that filled the gap

The Škoda Rapid is a small family car introduced in 2012 as a five-door liftback, and joined in 2013 by the Rapid Spaceback hatchback. It was built on the PQ25 platform also used by the Fabia, and it was created to fill the gap between the Fabia and the third-generation Octavia after the Octavia Tour had been dropped in 2011.

Škoda Rapid at a glance

This page is based on one source, the English Wikipedia article on the 2012 Rapid.

History of the Škoda Rapid

A deliberate gap-filler

The Rapid was the first Škoda to carry the brand’s new design language in full. Its minimalist shape, developed under chief designer Jozef Kabaň, was previewed by the MissionL concept at Frankfurt in 2011. The liftback was shown in production form at the Paris motor show in September 2012, went on sale in the Czech Republic on 20 October 2012 and reached other central and western European markets by the end of the year, with Russian sales and production starting in early 2014. Despite being smaller outside than the Octavia Tour it replaced, the Rapid had a longer wheelbase, so rear passengers gained space while the boot shrank by only 35 litres. The range used three petrol engines and one diesel, all four-cylinder apart from the base 1.2, with a seven-speed DSG standard on the top 1.4 TSI and optional on the 1.6 TDI of 66 kW. Every European car came with ESC and six airbags. At the 2013 GTI Treffen Škoda also showed the Rapid Sport show car with a two-tone body and 19-inch wheels, a nod to the record whose name the model carried.

The Spaceback

The Rapid Spaceback arrived in September 2013 as a five-door hatchback sharing the liftback’s wheelbase and front panels but with a shorter rear overhang, a formula Opel had used with the Kadett City in the 1970s. Its fastback-looking tail still swallowed between 415 and 1,380 litres depending on how the rear seat was folded, and it used the same engines, from 75 to 122 PS, and the same trim levels. With the Spaceback, European Rapids gained optional low-power xenon headlamps; because their output stayed at 2,000 lumens, the cars did not need the headlamp washers and automatic levelling that more powerful systems require.

Facelifts and the end in Europe

The Rapid was facelifted in 2017 with a modified front, new headlamps available as bi-xenon units with LED daytime lights, extra assistance systems and a slightly revised dashboard; the 1.2 MPI engine gave way to a 1.0 TSI of 70 kW and the 1.2 TSI was dropped entirely. A second facelift came at the end of 2019 for Russia and the CIS, with triangular LED headlamps like those of the Scala, a new bumper, the hexagonal grille, L-shaped tail lamps, a digital instrument panel and a 6.5-inch or 8-inch touchscreen. In western and central Europe the Scala took over from the Rapid in 2019, but the Rapid stayed in production in Russia and China, where it remained popular. The name has a long history at Škoda: it was used for the Rapid of 1935–1947 and for the rear-engined Garde/Rapid coupé of the 1980s.

Design and features

• New design language: the first Škoda to apply the look previewed by the MissionL concept.
• Space where it mattered: a longer wheelbase than the Octavia Tour despite smaller outer dimensions.
• Two bodies: the liftback with a 550-litre boot and the shorter, hatchback-style Spaceback.
• Frugal version: the GreenLine emitted 99 g/km of CO2.

Škoda Rapid versions

• Rapid liftback (2012): Type NH3, the original five-door.
• Rapid Spaceback (2013): Type NH1 hatchback with a shorter rear overhang.
• Rapid GreenLine: low-emission version from 2013.
• Rapid Sport (2013): show car with two-tone paint and 19-inch wheels.
• Rapid for Russia and China (2019): second facelift with LED lights and a digital dashboard.

The Rapid sat between the Škoda Fabia and the Škoda Octavia in the range. More cars are in the Škoda collection.

Video: Skoda Rapid im Test | Autotest 2012 | ADAC

Video by ADAC on YouTube.

Sources

• Škoda Rapid (2012), English Wikipedia: launch, platform, dimensions, engines, Spaceback, facelifts