Inside story on Vision O digital tech

We get low-down on Skoda's future tech, hidden within sleek estate concept

- Jordan Katsianis [e-mail]

OF all the Volkswagen Group's concepts and future models on display at the Munich Motor Show last year, there was one which stood out for a very good reason. The Skoda Vision O, a concept version of a future all-electric edition of the marque’s long-running Octavia, wasn’t just our first look at the brand's new design language, it was also an initial preview of the next-generation architecture that will underpin both the Skoda and the all-important Volkswagen ID. Golf.

We had already walked around the car's exterior styling with Skoda’s head of design, Oliver Stefani, but now we've looked at the cabin, and more specifically the technology in what will be the biggest shakeup of the Czech brand's interfaces since the introduction of the touchscreen.

Just as BMW did with its fresh Panoramic iDrive system for its Neue Klasse cars, Skoda plans to introduce a brand-new digital layout, which starts with a vast, full-width screen mounted right at the junction of the dashboard and windscreen.

Skoda’s user-interface designer, Daniel Hájek, talked us through the new setup on a left-hand-drive version. “As you can see, this is split into three areas,” he explained. “The driver's part only shows necessary information, on the right side you have the possibility to share the content with your passenger, but the middle area is the most important bit, which includes our virtual assistant, Laura.”