The refreshed Octavia vRS has been revealed. Skoda’s new performance flagship receives the new front-end styling and dual-headlights of the facelifted Octavia, along with an 8.8hp power boost for the 2.0 TSI-engined vRS.

The new Octavia vRS also gets fully adaptive LED headlights, while inside there is optional Alcantara upholstery available with ambient lighting as standard. Skoda has also added its ‘Simply Clever’ touches to the vRS, including an umbrella under the passenger seat and an LED torch removable from the boot lid of the estate.

Grip should be marginally improved over that of the current Octavia, with a 3cm wider rear track, which is 1cm wider than that of the standard model. Standard 18in or optional 19in alloys fill the wheel arches. The petrol-powered vRS's extra horsepower shaves 0.1sec off the hatch's performance 0-100kph time, at 6.7sec. A drive selector allows the choice of Sport, Normal or Comfort modes as part of Skoda's Dynamic Chassis Control system.

Driver aid systems include trailer assist, blind spot detect and rear traffic alert which warns the driver of approaching traffic when reversing, but the semi-autonomous traffic jam assist system of the Seat Ateca and Leon and the facelifted Volkswagen Golf are not offered. It does, however, feature a crew protect assist function, which closes windows and the sunroof and tightens seatbelts if an imminent crash is detected, as well as tightening seatbelts.

2017 Skoda Octavia line-up for India

Having invested in improving service quality, Skoda India also has a slew of launches in the pipeline. It launched the new Rapid facelift recently and the next model due for the Czech brand is the Skoda Octavia Black Edition. Revealed internationally in 2014, the Black Edition series comprises sportier versions of the models in the Skoda range.

The limited-run Black Edition will be based on the current Octavia and not on the recently revealed facelifted Octavia which will come to India at a later stage.

Besides the Black Edition, Skoda will also launch the Octavia vRS sometime next year.