Revised Skoda Fabia revealed

Skoda has revealed the facelifted Fabia ahead of the car’s official launch at next week’s Geneva motor show.

The Czech firm has redesigned the front end of the Fabia, adding new headlamps, redesigned front bumper and grille. The latter two elements have been widened to give the Fabia a more ‘dynamic' family look.

The new-look Fabia will make it to India in the second half of this year (around September) and will sport a 1.2-litre 75bhp petrol and a 1.2-litre 75bhp diesel engine. These are the same engines doing duty in the newly launched VW Polo as well. The power output over the older engines has gone up 5bhp and 7bhp for petrol and diesel respectively.

The facelift comes just in time as the premium hatchback market has started hotting up. Fabia has been facing tough competition lately from the likes of Hyundai i20 and the Honda Jazz. And now the newly launched VW Polo has only made the Fabia’s job that much harder.

Hopefully Skoda will price the Fabia competitively as it was losing sales to its cheaper rivals.