Geneva 2011: Skoda Vision D video

It looks smart. Chief designer Josef Kaban talked about a love of simplicity, and the styling is certainly very clean, with its strong beltline the only properly dramatic exterior feature. Both front and rear features are very definitely Skoda, and we’d expect to see the next Octavia adopt many of the Vision D’s design cues.

‘We want practical and beautiful’, said Kaban. ‘We want everything – with cars people think you have to go left or right. We want both.’

2012 will kick off a Skoda product offensive, with a brand new model every six months as the new design language is ushered in. And we can expect clean simplicity from them all. Kaban: ‘Lots of cars are like Christmas trees with all their design. I like Christmas, but only once a year!’

Skoda’s freshen up is also signaled by a new logo, though it’s an evolution of the old badge rather than revolution. While it’s green in print, it will be silver and black when plonked on the nose of the brand’s cars, giving a slightly classier look than before. Just don’t mention any similarities to Holden’s badge…Click here for the rest of evo’s 2011 Geneva show coverage