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Skoda hints at what's to come from Volkswagen with S2000 WRC title

To the outsider, it would be all too easy to forget that the FIA World Rally Championship has more than one class. Just like Le Mans endurance racing has various LMP and GT racing categories, and NASCAR has the Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series, so too does the WRC have more than one tier. So while the Sebastien Loeb and the Citroën World Rally Team were locking up their seventh title in the top tier of the championship, Skoda took its first title in the Super 2000 category as its Finnish crew Juho Hänninen and Mikko Markkula won took a class win and 10th overall in the RACC Rally of Spain this past weekend.
So what, who cares, you ask? Well you'd be forgiven for dismissing an overseas automaker (whose products we don't even get here) winning a second-tier rally series that doesn't come here, either. (Mexico's the closest stage on this year's calendar.) But we'll tell you why it matters: Skoda's sister (or parent) company Volkswagen is entering the top-tier WRC next season with the new Polo R. And while VW has enjoyed much success in rally-raid events like Dakar, the WRC is an entirely different beast.
In order to prepare for its assault on the most world's foremost rally series, Volkswagen has been looking to Skoda's program to test out everything from machinery to personnel. And given that Skoda - whose motorsport division celebrates its 110th anniversary this year - has come out on top, we could be looking at a very serious contender from Wolfsburg for next year's championship.

Skoda recreates Stonehenge out of old cars

The UK has a burgeoning car market filled with all sorts of cars we don't get here. So to get buyers' attention, automakers need to make a real splash. To that end, Skoda has erected a fresh take on one of the island nation's oldest landmarks... only in a more automotive form.
Dubbed Citihenge, the installation is inspired by the ancient Stonehenge in Wiltshire, recreated out of old cars. It was built over the course of three months under the direction of renowned installation artist Tommy Gun, and put in place in less than 12 hours. Using eighteen scrap cars weighing a total of 36 metric tons, each of the henges measures five meters tall by five meters wide and is made to withstand force-12 hurricane winds. Still, it can be entirely recycled.
The installation was erected on the south bank of the Thames next to London's famous Tower Bridge just in time for the summer solstice, and marks the arrival of the Skoda Citigo (the Czech version of the Volkswagen Up!) in the British market.

Skoda makes us hungry for some Yeti with new Urban edition

As a European auto giant with a strong presence in the North American market, there are some products that the Volkswagen group doesn't offer on this side of the pond. Like the entire Skoda and Seat brands, for example. With the exception of the Scirocco, there aren't many that we really feel like we're missing over here. That, and perhaps the Skoda Yeti.
Highly praised by a publication so performance-oriented as Evo (among many others), the Yeti is said to be an excellent little sport-ute, and a cost-effective one at that. And no, there are no plans we're aware of to bring it Stateside. But as if to rub salt in the wound of its absence from American showrooms, Volkswagen's Czech brand has announced a new version of the capable soft-roader in the UK.
Called the Skoda Yeti Urban, the special edition is based on the SE trim level but features a number of special touches and optional extras bundled in. Two-tone black and chrome 17-inch alloys, fog lights, flared fenders, and an interior with black or red sports seats and a whole mess of electronics are all part of the package, available with either a 1.2-liter TSI with 104 horsepower or (for a premium) a 108hp 2.0-liter TDI.