Skoda’s New Minicar to Be Named Citigo

VIENNA – Volkswagen’s Czech subsidiary Skoda unveils its new Skoda Citigo 3-door minicar, based on VW’s Up!

Both cars are part of the VW Group’s new minicar range, internally codenamed New Small Family. The Up! was unveiled at the Frankfurt auto show earlier this month.

Citigo first city car for Skoda.

The Citigo marks Skoda’s entry into the city-car (or sub-A) segment. The 3-door is 139 ins. (354 cm) long, 65 ins. (164 cm) wide and 58 ins. (148 cm) high. Its wheelbase stretches 95 ins. (242 cm).

The 4-passenger minicar will be available with two 1.0L, 3-cyl. gasoline engines making either 60 or 75 hp.

While Skoda holds a strong position in several Eastern European markets, minicars the size of the Citigo sell better in Western Europe.

“We can see that the demand for small cars with low fuel consumption, at a favorable price and with reasonable operating costs, is growing,” Skoda’s Chairman Winfried Vahland says in a statement.

“We are entering new ground, and the Citigo will attract a lot of customers mainly in our European markets.”

The Citigo will not be manufactured in one of Skoda’s three Czech plants, but at the Volkswagen Slovakia factory in Bratislava. It will share an assembly line with the Up! and a future SEAT-badged variant of the minicar.

The Citigo will go on sale in the Czech Republic in December and in other European countries next summer. A 5-door version of the minicar will be unveiled next year.