CarBrandLogos archive · Škoda · 2001

ŠkodaSuperb

A 1930s name revived for the car with more rear legroom than a Mercedes S-Class.

Photo: © M 93 · CC BY-SA 3.0 de

The story

A defining chapter in Škoda history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Škoda Superb, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Škoda had used the Superb name in the 1930s on large, expensive saloons built for government ministers and industrialists, which made it an odd choice for a company that had spent the 1990s rebuilding itself on value. But the 2001 car had a specific origin: Volkswagen was already building a long-wheelbase Passat B5 for the Chinese market, and Škoda took that stretched platform and used it for a D-segment saloon sold across Europe.

Skoda Superb Facelift front · M 93 · CC BY-SA 3.0

2009 Skoda Superb Elegance CRTDi Automatic 2.0 Front

Design and engineering

The result was a car with rear accommodation from a class well above its price, and Škoda leaned into it entirely. The first-generation Superb offered a rear cabin that comfortably out-measured executive saloons costing twice as much, and the second generation added the Twindoor tailgate — a boot lid that could open conventionally or swing up as a hatchback, an idea nobody else had bothered to engineer.

2009 Skoda Superb Elegance CRTDi Automatic 2.0 Front · Vauxford · CC BY-SA 4.0

2009 Skoda Superb Elegance CRTDi Automatic 2.0 Rear

In production

Later generations moved onto the group's MQB architecture and lost the Chinese-derived proportions, but kept the principle: maximum interior space and equipment for the money, with an estate body that became one of the largest load-carriers on sale.

2009 Skoda Superb Elegance CRTDi Automatic 2.0 Rear · Vauxford · CC BY-SA 4.0

Legacy

The Superb sits at the top of Škoda's car range and does a particular job within the Volkswagen Group — it takes the buyers who want a Passat's substance without a Passat's price, and it does so profitably enough that the group has kept renewing it while shrinking its saloon range elsewhere.

At a glance