Skoda's new baby arrives in NZ

Thursday, 7 May 2020

Watch: the newest Skoda to hit our shores in action.

Skoda's first step into the baby SUV segment is now available in New Zealand.

The Kamiq officially went on sale yesterday and is initially available in two guises - Ambition and Ambition+ - with a Monte Carlo variant expected to arrive in a few months time.

The Ambition is powered by an 85kW/200Nm 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine, while the Ambition+ gets a 150kW/250Nm 1.5-litre four-cylinder unit. Both are hooked up to a seven-speed DSG that sends power to the front wheels.

Skoda's smallest SUV has now arrived in New Zealand.

Priced at $30,990 and $36,990 respectively - the Monte Carlo will cost $42,990 when it arrives in August - the ambition models land competitively-priced right in the meat of the compact SUV segment to take on the likes of the Honda HR-V, Toyota C-HR and Kia Seltos, which was the best-selling vehicle in New Zealand during the coronavirus lockdown in April.

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Skoda has stayed away from the 'weird for the sake of it' styling common in the baby SUV segment.

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Like the external styling, the Kamiq's interior is very in keeping with the rest of the family.

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Unlike its aforementioned competitors, the Kamiq largely eschews the adventurous and often polarising styling prevalent in the baby SUV segment for a more conservative look in line with its larger siblings, the Karoq and Kodiaq.

The Kamiq is based on the same MQB A0 platform as the Skoda Scala and boasts 1,051mm of headroom and 1,439mm of elbow room up front, while says that the amount of space in the rear is 'the most generous in the segment' with headroom of 1,003mm, elbow room of 1,425mm and knee room of 73mm.

The Kamiq also has a boot capacity of 400 litres, which can reach up to 1,395 litres with the 60:40 split backrests folded down.

The interior design is in line with the rest of the Skoda range, with a large infotainment touchscreen dominating the dash, and Skoda says that the interior can be customised with a range of optional decorative trims, contrasting stitching, ambient lighting and a Dynamic package.

The Kamiq also comes standard with Skoda's built-in SmartLink technology for connecting devices via Apple CarPlay, Android Auto or MirrorLink and includes up to two USB-C ports in the front and two in the rear.

On the safety side, all Kamiq models come standard with Lane Assist, Front Assist including City Emergency Brake, Driver Fatigue Alert, and Cruise Control.

“Kamiq is the perfect fit to our SUV line-up and is set to become a pillar of our ŠKODA model range as a whole,” said Rodney Gillard, general manager of Skoda New Zealand.

“We are thrilled to have had the first cars arrive and are excited to showcase this distinctive and competitively priced new entrant to the market.'