Skoda Yeti facelift spotted testing in India

A test mule of the Skoda Yeti facelift has been spotted testing in India for the first time. The car recently made its Indian debut at the 2014 Delhi Auto Expo in its ‘Outdoor’ avatar and going by the spy shots, it seems that Skoda is intent upon bringing this version to the Indian market. The Yeti facelift is expected to be launched here in the third quarter of this year.

The Yeti will be available in two variations – one an urban ‘Style’ version and the other an off-road 'Outdoor' version. While the former gets an elegant and stylish design, the latter, thanks to its black bumpers, plastic claddings, bash plates and door sills, looks quite rugged and adventurous.  

As opposed to the pervious car which looked very offbeat, Skoda has given the new Yeti a more conservative design along the lines of the recently updated Skoda line-up, making it look less radical than its predecessor. The front houses a new grille, elongated rectangular-shaped headlamps with optional bi-xenons and LED DRLs. The rear also gets subtle styling updates like new C-shaped tail-lamps with LEDs and a slightly revised tailgate. The car also gets new alloy wheels and will be available in new paint schemes.

Under the skin though, the Yeti facelift is similar to the previous car and will be offered with the same engine in the Indian market. The Yeti will be offered with a 2.0-litre diesel unit in two states of tune for the front-wheel-drive (FWD) and the all-wheel drive (AWD) variants. The engine in the FWD version will produce 108bhp and 250Nm of torque while in the AWD version, it will churn out 138bhp and 320Nm of torque.

The positioning of the Skoda Yeti in the Indian market makes it a niche vehicle and it does not have any direct competition. Despite being a good all-rounder, the Yeti found few takers because of its offbeat looks, which might not suit everyone’s taste. The new car however, adopts a more conservative design which might just catch the eye of a bigger customer base. We expect the Yeti facelift to be priced in the Rs 16 lakh to 19 lakh price bracket, which makes it rival the D-segment sedans.