Following hot on the heels of Volkswagen’s announcement of a five-door version of its up! subcompact vehicle, the Czech Republic-based Volkswagen subsidiary Skoda has announced that a five door version of its Citigo subcompact will make its public debut at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show in March. The three-door Citigo was introduced in Skoda’s home market late last year, marking the company’s first entry into the growing subcompact segment. The five-door model will be successively launched alongside the three-door model in European markets from mid-May.

As part of the Volkswagen Group’s New Small Family (NSF) project, the Citigo shares the same MQB platform as the Volkswagen up! and the SEAT Mii. As such, it has achieved the same five star top score in the Euro NCAP crash test along with those vehicles. Skoda has revealed the three-door version will measure 3.56 m (11.7 ft) long), 1.65 m (5.4 ft) wide, and 1.48 m (4.8 ft) high, and the five-door model is unlikely to be any different.

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Skoda kept this one quiet! At the recent Frankfurt Motor Show the biggest news from the Czech manufacturer was the MissionL concept but the firm was obviously biding its time while parent company, Volkswagen, basked in the glow from its own new city car, the up!. The new baby Skoda, the Citigo, is actually based on the VW model so you can see why the two cars would not make their debut at the same event.

Despite being remarkably similar in looks the Skoda designers have worked hard to separate the Citigo from its VW cousin. The Skoda corporate face has shrunk down to size and features the finned grille and shapely headlights that are familiar to the rest of the Skoda range. The fancy glass boot of the up! has been replaced by a more conventional half metal affair while the side panels have been changed to give straighter lines and open up the rear windows even more.
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Skoda will launch its new £7000 city car, the Skoda Citigo, in the UK in mid-2012. It will be the first model in an aggressive product roll-out that will result in a new car launched every six months.

The new three-door Volkswagen Up-based city car, set to be part of a range of new city cars Skoda collectively calls ‘New Small Family’, will be a major part of Skoda’s ambitious growth plans. The Czech firm wants to be selling 1.5 million cars per year by 2018, up from the 762,600 it sold in 2010.
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