Skoda Imaginary Sedan Is So Gorgeous You’ll Wonder Why It Doesn’t Exist

Skoda has come a long way since its pre-Volkswagen era. Today, it ranks as Europe’s third best-selling automaker with a 6.3 percent market share through October. It’s fair to say the brand is in the strongest position of its century-long history, aside from its early Laurin & Klement years. Still, Skoda hasn’t forgotten the vehicles it produced in communist-era Czechoslovakia before Volkswagen took over in the early 1990s.

Through its “Icons Get a Makeover” series, Skoda has been reinterpreting historic models as futuristic electric vehicles. The latest installment highlights the company’s first car to surpass one million sales. The rear-wheel-drive, rear-engined 100/110 has been envisioned as a modern, imaginary successor to the sedan produced between 1969 and 1977.

Like the other fictional models in the series, the electric sedan adopts the brand’s Modern Solid design language. Skoda exterior designer Martin Paclt, a specialist in headlight design, avoided relying too heavily on retro elements and instead allowed for a more imaginative approach. Notably, the car features no rear window. In its place, a body-colored curved panel includes a central fin that functions both as an air intake and as the housing for the third brake light.

Despite the extensive redesign, the car still includes subtle references to the classic 100. Even without a rear-mounted engine, the designer integrated discreet vents into the rear fenders, as electric vehicles also require cooling. The LED light bars at the front and rear echo the original model’s chrome strip and engine vent. A fuel cap remains on the front fender, though it now hides the charging port.

At 163.6 inches (4,155 millimeters) long, the original Skoda 100 was a compact vehicle. Its imagined successor, however, was conceived using the current-generation Superb’s platform and grew into a noticeably larger car. The designer determined that a short overhang was appropriate for a dedicated EV architecture. This layout also made it possible to incorporate dual cargo areas, with the rear trunk positioned above the drivetrain.

As with earlier digital concepts, these reinterpretations of historic models are created by Skoda designers purely as a passion project outside regular working hours. Unfortunately, they are not previews of future production vehicles. A modern 100 would be unlikely to fit into the current lineup anyway, especially as both the Octavia and Superb are moving toward full electrification.

2025 Skoda 100 Official Rendering

The next-generation Octavia has already been teased in electric form through the Vision O, an EV wagon concept to which Paclt also contributed. The production version is expected to debut in the coming years.

At the pace Skoda is releasing new renderings, it may eventually exhaust its catalog of classic models to revisit. Still, the imaginative series that reinterprets historic nameplates as modern designs remains an enjoyable creative exercise—one that more legacy automakers, including parent company Volkswagen, could benefit from adopting.

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