Behind The Wheel Of New Yeti

It’s all change for Skoda’s compact SUV, with a fresh name – Karoq – and an array of new tech.

- Jonathan Burn

EVEN with the psychedelic disguise, it’s clear that the new Skoda Yeti is a completely different car to the one it’s about to replace. In fact, the crossover has undergone such a dramatic transformation that Skoda has decided to give it an all new name, too – welcome the Karoq.

Now a more conventional rival for the likes of the SEAT Ateca and Nissan Qashqai, the new name helps the Karoq slot into Skoda’s reshaped SUV line-up spearheaded by the Kodiaq. The Karoq will be officially unveiled later this month, and ahead of the crossover arriving in showrooms at the end of the year (priced from around £17,000) Auto Express joined Skoda’s development team in Estonia to see how it’s shaping up.

The outgoing Yeti was a huge success for Skoda, so why the big change? Well, a new platform and new technology have become available to Skoda, and China is playing an ever-increasing role in dictating the look and purpose of new cars. In the Far East, the Yeti has no real history or pedigree, so Skoda has decided to start from scratch.