Skoda Octavia RS And Scout Officially Confirmed For 2020 Launch

Much like Volkswagen has announced the Golf 8 GTI will be launched in 2020, its more practical cousin from the Czech Republic is doing the same as Skoda has revealed the Octavia RS will debut next year. In the lengthy press release published today about the regular model, there's one sentence that caught our attention: "Later in 2020, the rugged Octavia Scout and the sporty Octavia RS will be added to the range."

It looks like we'll get to see not only the performance version, but also the versatile Scout with its lifted wagon silhouette and extra plastic body cladding. The off-road-oriented version of the Octavia and a sister model of the VW Golf Alltrack will probably come as standard with all-wheel drive and a dual-clutch automatic transmission.

If you want a Golf GTI in a more practical package, the Octavia RS will tick all the right boxes as it should have just about the same mechanical bits. Skoda isn't willing to spill the beans about the technical specifications just yet, but VW's hot hatch is expected to offer about 250 hp in base form and close to 290 hp in the GTI TCR also due in 2020. Both flavors of the Grand Tourer Injection have already been officially confirmed to use a turbocharged 2.0-liter gasoline engine.

The folks from Wolfsburg have announced there will be another diesel-fueled GTD, and there are reasons to believe Skoda is going to offer the equivalent Octavia RS TDI. In fact, the press release mentions at one point the 2.0-liter TDIs will be offered with as much as 200 horsepower – a figure likely reserved for the Octavia RS running on Devil's fuel. An optional all-wheel-drive layout will be available for this potent diesel engine, so it looks like customers will once again be able to get the Octavia RS with a diesel and AWD.

Meanwhile, the regular Octavia will debut on November 11 with an assortment of gasoline and diesel engines, along with two plug-in hybrids, a pair of gasoline mild hybrids, and an eco-friendly derivative running on compressed natural gas.