Unfortunately it's going to be called the Laura only,

The European rapid will be sold as the new Octavia in India.

(Since we already got the rapid in the form of a fabia w/boot)

Unfortunately it's going to be called the Laura only,

The European rapid will be sold as the new Octavia in India.

(Since we already got the rapid in the form of a fabia w/boot)

Christ on a bike, they like to keep it simple don't they!

Why didn't they just call the Octavia the Octavia, then the Fabia with a boot a different name (like Laura!) and the European Rapid, the Rapid?

at the risk of sounding super geeky --- they couldn't do that because when the octavia mk2 was launched i.e. the pre -fl octavia, the mk1 octavia was selling quite strongly. Not wanting to therefore stop the ongoing momentum ... what Skoda did was only launch the elegance and the l&k version and brand the then new octavia (pre -fl) as the laura and sell it as a car that was a segment (price wise) above the mk1 octavia. So when the facelift was launched they continued with the name laura. Next, VW put a boot on the polo and called it the vento,(which did well) not one to be left behind skoda did the same and put a boot on the fabia and called it the rapid (dont ask me why? maybe they couldnt come up with another name). By this time skoda had discontinued making the mk1 octavia in India(finally), but soon they realised that octavia held a big market share in India and that they were losing out on a lot and thus decided to bring the octavia name back in india, now since they needed a car that was bigger than the fabia and the fabia with a boot and also lower than the laura (i.e. EU octavia) they had just the thing with the newly launched rapid.

So that s why things are the way they are

Hope this clears things up finally !

at the risk of sounding super geeky --- they couldn't do that because when the octavia mk2 was launched i.e. the pre -fl octavia, the mk1 octavia was selling quite strongly. Not wanting to therefore stop the ongoing momentum ... what Skoda did was only launch the elegance and the l&k version and brand the then new octavia (pre -fl) as the laura and sell it as a car that was a segment (price wise) above the mk1 octavia. So when the facelift was launched they continued with the name laura. Next, VW put a boot on the polo and called it the vento,(which did well) not one to be left behind skoda did the same and put a boot on the fabia and called it the rapid (dont ask me why? maybe they couldnt come up with another name). By this time skoda had discontinued making the mk1 octavia in India(finally), but soon they realised that octavia held a big market share in India and that they were losing out on a lot and thus decided to bring the octavia name back in india, now since they needed a car that was bigger than the fabia and the fabia with a boot and also lower than the laura (i.e. EU octavia) they had just the thing with the newly launched rapid.

So that s why things are the way they are

Hope this clears things up finally !

Lol, thanks for the explanation!

I just wish they had called the Fabia-with-a-boot something other than Rapid...