Skoda Kodiaq vRS to be removed from sale due to emissions rules

Production of the Skoda Kodiaq vRS will gradually cease in the coming weeks as the model becomes the latest victim of tightening emissions regulations.

Confirmed by the Czech brand in a statement, the sporting large SUV will no longer be offered with the 237bhp twin-turbo diesel engine currently used in the vRS. The statement also confirms there will be "certain adjustments in the engine product line of Skoda next year".

However, the news doesn't mean the only high-riding vRS model in the Czech brand's line-up is gone for good. The statement adds that an upgraded version of the Kodiaq vRS will be reintroduced when the car is given its mid-life revamp.

It remains unclear if Skoda will take the opportunity to offer a petrol engine in the range flagship instead as the market gradually shifts away from diesel power. The large, seven-seat SUV sector still favours the fuel, but trends show a continuing decline.

Despite the increasing focus on electrification throughout the Volkswagen Group and Skoda's new Octavia featuring a plug-in vRS model, sales and marketing boss Alain Favey has told Autocar "there is no Kodiaq PHEV in the foreseeable future".

"It's much too early for us to see any patterns with regards to consumer progression from ICE [internal combustion engines] to PHEV [plug-in hybrids] to BEV [battery-electric vehicles]," Favey continued. "The Citigo-e iV is already over, and we have only had the Superb plug-in hybrid since last year, so we don't have any of those customers who would be buying a next car. But perhaps people might jump directly from Kodiaq to Enyaq without going through the transition of a plug-in hybrid."

The Enyaq, Skoda's recently revealed electric SUV, is the first MEB-based model to be built outside of Germany. It promises the interior space of the Kodiaq but with a smaller external footprint.

Further details of Skoda's revised 2021 Kodiaq are expected to emerge either later this year or early next year.