According to online reports, Skoda has confirmed that it has scrapped plans to release a second generation of the Roomster compact MPV.
The original Skoda Roomster was a small family car with an unconventional design and modest sales performance. Using the same platform as the previous-generation Skoda Fabia, the Roomster’s design identified the front passenger compartment as the ‘Driving Room’ and the rear passenger compartment as the ‘Living Room’.
For the rear passenger section, the roofline and subsequently headroom was significantly higher, which largely explains how the Roomster got its quirky looks.
Production of the original Roomster ended earlier this year but Skoda is believed to have reached advanced stage of developments with its successor. Rather than being based on the Fabia supermini, the new Roomster was going to be based on the Volkswagen Caddy MPV and have a more conventional design as a result.
However, online reports emerged earlier this week that Skoda were planning to halt plans to launch a new Roomster. Now the Czech manufacturer has confirmed these rumours are in fact true.
Skoda has revealed that it instead wants to focus more on compact and affordable SUVs, rather than MPVs. There are rumours that Skoda will reveal a production-ready seven-seat SUV in October next year at the 2016 Paris Motor Show.
The decision to scrap the new Roomster is also a potential consequence of efforts by Skoda’s owners Volkswagen to make budget cuts, in the wake of the Dieselgate scandal.
Back in October, the current Volkswagen CEO, Matthias Muller, revealed to the press that the Dieselgate scandal had led him to initiate a critical review of all planned investments. He explained that everything deemed “not absolutely necessary” would be either cancelled or postponed.
