2014 Skoda Rapid goes on sale in India

The Czech car maker’s top seller in India, the Rapid sedan, has just gotten a facelift for 2014. 



As the Indian C-Segment sedan buyer is flooded with choices, car makers are launching facelifts left, right and center. The latest car maker to join the facelift brigade is Skoda. The 2014 Rapid facelift is a minor one and that’s limited to the features on offer. Looks-wise, the 2014 Rapid remains unchanged. With the festive season of Diwali now in the rear view mirror, Skoda has begun shipping out the facelifted Rapid to dealers across the country.
Now, this strategy may sound unusual as most car makers line up their facelifts/new models to coincide with the festive season. However, Skoda’s ploy of trucking out the facelifted Rapid just after Diwali is to give its dealers a chance to maintain sales during the slower months of the year: November and December. With a facelifted Rapid in the showrooms, Skoda dealers will have a better time convincing prospective buyers to sign on the dotted lines. Here’s what the 2014 Skoda Rapid adds to its equipment list:
The Ambition variant adds,

• Bluetooth Connectivity
• Steering-mounted Audio Controls
• Satin Inserts on Steering Wheel

The Elegance variant adds projector headlamps to the above feature list. Mechanically, the Skoda Rapid remains the same. The sedan is available in petrol and turbo diesel engine options. The 1.6 liter MPI petrol and TDI turbo diesel engines come with similar power ratings of 105 PS while featuring torque ratings of 153 Nm and 250 Nm respectively. The car gets a five speed manual gearbox as standard on both the engines while a 6 speed automatic gearbox is offered on the petrol variant.
Although Volkswagen India recently introduced the 1.2 liter TSI turbo petrol engine and the 7 speed DSG dual clutch automatic gearbox to the Vento, Skoda is yet to do the same on the Rapid. Notably, the Rapid is a badge engineered version of the Vento. Therefore, changes made on the Vento could eventually be adopted onto the Rapid as well. In this light, the Rapid getting the 1.2 liter TSI engine and the DSG automatic gearbox in the future are distinct possibilities.