Skoda's New Pickup Concept Is Fun Incarnate

Car-based with a big open bed, the new concept car would look perfect in Miami or Los Angeles, ready to take its owner to the beach, or (more likely) look like it's ready to take its owner to the beach while actually trundling slowly to work.

Retro Awesomeness Of A Truck You've Never Heard Of
Škoda interior lead designer Julien Petitseigneur took on the outside of this one as well as the cabin. He wanted to capture the spirit of the late 1990s Felicia Fun and to combine it with the company's latest Modern Solid design language. Petitseigneur tried to keep the little truck as close to production feasible as possible, and while the resulting truck is way-out and way cool, we can also see how Škoda could make something like this work using one of its VW-based models like the Karoq – built from the Taos.

Creating a modern take on the classic Fun was an enjoyable exercise for the designer. Petitseigneur said he got so into the project that he started to think about buying an original version of the truck. Though he wanted it to be "realistic," it's actually missing some of the coolest features of the original, like the second row of seats in the bed and the electric sliding rear partition that opened up space to get to those seats. Petitseigneur wanted a "cool beach vibe" but he wanted it based on what Škoda builds now, not what it might have to develop to make it happen.

Bright yellow paint helps capture the 90s beach vibe. The purple rear LED light bar, purple window tint, and a purple stripe in the nose cement it. The stance, though, is fully modern – extra wide, with gigantic wheels pushed far out to the corners.

On the inside, the Felicia Fun has a full-width dash display. Instead of modern graphics, the French designer imagined it with a vintage CRT display look and retro video game graphics. There's more purple and yellow, too.

This Giant-Looking Truck Should Be A Giant Hit
It looks massive next to the original truck, but that shouldn't be a surprise. The original Felicia Fun was based on the Felicia pickup, which shared bones with the Volkswagen Polo supermini city car. You could get a Felicia in almost every body type. There were hatchbacks, wagons, vans, and even a convertible. The Fun took the pickup and remade it along the lines of the Subaru BRAT. The rear seats unfolded when the bulkhead was folded. You could get a cap for bad weather or a tonneau cover for when you weren't using the seats. Skoda only built 4,216 of the oddballs from 1997 to 2000, and they were all yellow. Only the bumpers, spoiler, and some other details could be painted other colors, and even then only green or orange.

Škoda doesn't plan to build this one, though we wish it would. Not that the brand would be able to sell it here anyway, but it would make for a really great version of the Volkswagen Taos if VW wanted to do something different and fun.