Official: Skoda Rapid MQB A0 IN sedan for India codenamed 'Skoda ANB', coming in late-2021

13/12/2019 - 15:45 Skoda Rapid, Skoda Prashant Singh

The Skoda MQB A0 IN sedan for India has been codenamed 'Skoda ANB', Zac Hollis, Director – Sales, Service & Marketing, Skoda Auto India, has revealed. It will be launched at the end of 2021.

2020 Skoda Rapid Front View — The Skoda ANB should be sold with 1.0L TSI and 1.5L TSI Evo engines.

Queried about the recently unveiled Russian-spec all-new Skoda Rapid's relation to the expected next-gen Skoda Rapid for India by a Twitter user, below is what Hollis said:

The above tweet is from yesterday. Today, Hollis revealed the launch timeline of the Skoda ANB via another tweet, which can be seen below:

Apparently, the Skoda Auto India chief is avoiding calling the Skoda MQB A0 IN sedan the next-gen Skoda Rapid. Perhaps the plan is to use a new name for this product. The MQB A0 IN platform is being designed for developing countries. In addition to some cost-cutting measures, it will differ from the original, MQB A0 platform with some more changes, such as those required to adapt to climatic conditions for instance.

The Skoda Rapid will likely continue being sold after the all-new Skoda MQB A0 IN sedan's launch, albeit with another facelift. Then, it should be repositioned as a cheaper model and may see the removal of some features to become more affordable. What's for certain is that both cars will be sold with a 1.0L TSI engine. The Skoda ANB may be offered with a 1.5L TSI Evo engine as well.