Skoda to launch the Yeti facelift on September 10

Skoda has officially confirmed that the new Yeti facelift will be launched in India on September 10. Though it is based on the old Yeti’s platform, the new car adopts a more elegant look based on Skoda’s current design philosophy. The new Yeti made its Indian debut at the 2014 Delhi Auto Expo and has been on sale in the European markets for quite some time now.

While the old Yeti got an offbeat design which set it apart from the crowd, the new car is all about elegance. Skoda offers the Yeti in two guises in the international market- a standard City version and a more rugged Outdoor version, and the same is expected for the Indian market. The Outdoor version is gets a rugged look courtesy the bash plates and body cladding and the City version gets a cleaner and elite look. 

The Skoda Yeti facelift will continue to be powered by a 2.0-litre diesel engine which produces 108bhp and 250Nm of torque in the front-wheel-drive version and 138bhp and 320Nm of torque in the all-wheel-drive version. 

While the Yeti is quite popular in European markets, it has failed to arouse the interest of the Indian customers. The Yeti is a very capable SUV, though its price tag positions it in a niche segment, where it doesn’t have any real competition.  Despite this, the Yeti was unsuccessful in grabbing the attention of car buyers, mainly due to its unconventional looks, which might have worked for the European markets, but was too radical to suit the tastes of the Indian customer.  With the new Yeti, Skoda has toned down the styling of the car to suit the tastes of a wider range of audience, but the high price might continue to be a point of concern for the Czech manufacturer.