Skoda Rapid SpaceBack arrives ahead of a Frankfurt debut

The Skoda Rapid Spaceback (pictured) is a new Rapid Hatch

You’d expect something called SpaceBack to be a more commodious version of a standard car. But in the case of the new Skoda Rapid Spaceback, it’s not. In fact, the SpaceBack is a more conventional hatchback version of the Rapid Saloon Skoda revealed last year which wasn’t actually a saloon at all but a ‘liftback’.

So instead of being an estate car, the Spaceback is actually the same as the Rapid saloon back to the B-Pillars – with the same wheelbase – and then turns in to a conventional 5-door hatch.

That actually means less room for load-lugging than the Rapid, with the seats up space dropping from 550 litres to 415 litres and the seats down space from 1490 litres to 1380 litres.

Apart from a design that looks like the Rapid with the boot removed, the headline feature is probably the optional full-length glass roof and the ‘prolong’ back window which stretches down the hatch.

Engines for the UK will mimic those of the Rapid saloon – which means the 1.2 litre TSI with various power outputs, 1.4 litre TSI with 120bhp plus a pair of diesels.

Skoda hasn’t come up with a price for the Rapid SpaceBack, and we don’t know yet whether they’ll consider a premium or a discount from the Rapid saloon the way to go.

But with the SpaceBack due on sale in the UK by the end of 2013, we’ll know soon enough.

By Cars UK