The new Škoda Octavia vRS iV will be unveiled in Geneva

The sporty newcomers, to be available in hatch and estate form, plus the rest of the all-new Octavia range make their world debut at the Geneva Motor Show on 3^rd March. This is the fourth generation of Octavia, a model which first surfaced (in modern-day form) back in 1996 and which has had a vRS hot one as flagship for almost as long.

Now it’s all change to the VW Group’s latest MQB architecture which has already surfaced underneath the new Golf Mk8 and which, at Geneva, will also be underpinning new versions of the Audi A3 and Seat Leon.

So what will that mean for this favourite of British motorists? It’s growing in size, says Škoda, but only by a little and surely few will bemoan that because one of the Octavia’s main claims to fame has always been its spacious cabin.

It’s also getting handsome, chiselled looks and, in the vRS iV forms shown here, an undeniably sporty body kit and wheels. If the production version of the hatch especially looks anything like this, with its imposing black radiator grille, then even BMW owners might have their heads turned…

The big news under the bonnet is the first use in the vRS iV of an electrified powertrain, as the addition of ‘iV’ to the name suggests. The plug-in petrol/electric hybrid system has 245PS (242bhp) so the same as the outgoing petrol-only vRS. That makes it no record breaker but, says Škoda, in tune with the vRS’s signature combination of sporty performance with family-friendly versatility along with lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions and some short-range electric running.

In the past there has been a choice of petrol and diesel engines for the different vRS models but as yet the full range is not confirmed. Current price of an equivalently powerful vRS from the outgoing range is £30,000 and the new PHEV will likely cost more than that – but perhaps still firmly in the “lot of car for the money” category that has always defined it.