2019 Skoda Superb facelift will go on sale in the final quarter of this year with the brand’s first-ever plug-in hybrid powertrain
The 2019 version of the Skoda Superb will undergo a number of cosmetic as well as interior changes. Initially, expected to make global premiere this month, Skoda appears to be taking a longer time than that and it could be for the right reason as the facelift will feature a slew of updates for global and domestic markets.
At the annual press conference in Mladá Boleslav, Bernhard Maier, CEO of Skoda Auto, has confirmed that the facelifted Superb will indeed be launched in India in the later part of this year. Skoda has been concentrating on upping its UV game in recent years and the strategy has paid off with the Karoq and Kodiaq while the newly revealed Kamiq is expected to make a huge impact.
However, unlike some of the global brands, Skoda is not shrugging its sedan line up and has continued the development. The mid-life Superb facelift gets a raft of noticeable changes including reworked headlamps with full LED lights, sleeker front fascia with sportier bumpers, different graphics to the LED tail lamps and so on.
On the inside, the updated Superb will come with a new touchscreen infotainment system, inclusion of new safety and driver assistance features and an all-digital instrument cluster. The Superb has already confirmed to be the first Skoda to receive a Plug-in hybrid treatment and it is expected to reminisce the Passat GTE.
The PHEV will more likely be introduced in India as it will help the Superb to compete against the latest generation Toyota Camry hybrid and Honda Accord hybrid. Currently, the premium executive sedan has its starting price at around Rs. 26 lakh and it goes all the way up to Rs. 33.5 lakh (ex-showroom) for the range-topping model.
It will be interesting to see how it will be priced against the eighth generation Camry hybrid that costs Rs. 36.95 lakh (ex-showroom). The Camry Hybrid, which we were impressed by, is 20 per cent more frugal than the previous version courtesy of the TNGA platform and the host of changes made to the hybrid system.