The Next Skoda Octavia vRS Will Be Available As Hybrid With Around 250bhp

When the vRS version of the new Skoda Octavia arrives, you’ll be able to order it in three distinct flavours. As before, there’ll be petrol and diesel variants, but they’ll be joined by a newcomer - a plug-in hybrid.

Car Throttle sister publication Auto Express reports that Skoda will offer an Octavia vRS PHEV with the same 1.4-litre inline-four-based hybrid powertrain as the new VW Golf 8 GTE. However, it’s set to develop a higher output than the 242bhp managed by the GTE.

The word is that Skoda wants the part-electric vRS to match the power of the petrol version, and the Czech company has also pledged to make the unleaded-fueled vRS the most powerful ever. The pokiest thus far (the Octavia vRS 245) is good for 242bhp, so we could be in for a pair of hot vRS hatchbacks pushing out around 250bhp or potentially beyond.

The petrol will be the quicker of two, however, as it’ll be a good deal lighter. It’s set to be powered by an evolution of the widely-used EA888 TSI inline-four turbo engine, which will be shared with the next VW Golf GTI..

The diesel version meanwhile is expected to retain the 197bhp 2.0-litre engine of its predecessor. Fun as it would be to have a derv Octavia with the 237bhp twin-turbo engine from the Kodiaq vRS, Skoda has ruled this out. Boo and indeed hiss.

As for when we’ll see these models, that’s an unknown at this stage. The Geneva Motor Show is a good bet, ahead of an on-sale date later on in 2020. We’d expect all three to be available either in hatchback form (imagined at the top of the page by X-Tomi Design) or as estates.