The ŠKODA JOYSTER – Lemon Joy

The ŠKODA JOYSTER – Lemon Joy

Joy – that was the main concept behind the JOYSTER, a design concept that ŠKODA showcased at the 2006 Paris Motor Show. Today this car is on display at the ŠKODA MUSEUM Depository in Mladá Boleslav.

17. 12. 2019 Concepts

A car for life and for the joys offered by life, that was the slogan shaped around the JOYSTER, a concept car that ŠKODA took to the 2006 Paris Motor Show. “Jens Manske, the then chief designer, wanted a car designed especially for Paris. The task was to come up with something that would radiate love, beauty and emotion,” recalls designer Jiří Hadaščok, whose various responsibilities in the past have included, for example, the exterior of the 2018 modernised FABIA.

The JOYSTER was a springboard project for his future career. “I had worked as a modeller up until then, a job which encompassed the ŠKODA YETI concept car of 2005. The JOYSTER was the next concept car. I brought a few drafts to Jens Manske and he immediately put me in one of the three teams responsible for designing this car for Paris. Although my design didn’t make the final cut, as my colleague Jan Tuček was selected for this project, that didn’t matter at all – it paved the way for my role as an exterior designer, and that was a dream come true for me.”

Jiri-Hadascok_vyrez
Jiří Hadaščok
exterior designer at ŠKODA

The three-door compact hatchback unveiled ŠKODA’s ideas about what the small car of the future might look like, and also shed light on possible paths that could be followed in the development of numerous components and solutions typical for ŠKODAs. Its lemon colour showed that, rather than conservative managers, this car would be targeting dynamic young people.

skoda-joyster-design-rear-shot-exterior

Thanks to its proportions, the JOYSTER looks wider than it actually is, and its sporty look is underscored by short overhangs, the front-shifted sideline along the passenger compartment, robust and widened wings, and big alloy wheels, which went well beyond the standard in this category at the time.

skoda-joyster-design-side-view-exterior

Like the previous concept cars, the ROOMSTER and YETI, the JOYSTER features large windows, the effect of which is compounded by dark-tinted A pillars. The bold grille combines with low LED headlamps.

skoda-joyster-design-front-view-exterior

Under the panoramic glazed roof, the interior accommodates four separate anatomically shaped seats and many generously sized storage compartments big enough for a laptop or digital camera. The boxes on the rear side of the front seats can be removed and, with their integrated straps, they can be used as backpacks.

skoda-joyster-interior-panoramic-roof-view

In the middle of the dashboard, in the audio system segment, there is a special compartment intended for a thin laptop – the driver can also use this computer outside the vehicle for videos, music or as a digital diary. The idea was that the laptop could be inserted into the dashboard and then used to control a variety of features, such as the audio system and ambient lighting.

skoda-joyster-interior-design-wheel-dashboard

The car’s originally designed two-piece tailgate was inspired by the YETI concept car. Its bottom part folds down in two positions. While Level 1 horizontally continues the line of the boot floor, Level 2 can be tilted slightly back and fixed in place from inside, using just one hand. This way, the tailgate is turned into a bench for two, with a carrying capacity of as much 150 kg. The seats and backrests are upholstered.

“Mass production was never the ambition,” says Jiří Hadaščok, “But we wanted to show what an A-entry model could look like – the first car young people or a young family would buy. Although the Joyster was not a forerunner of any particular model, many solutions used in it actually appeared in ŠKODA vehicles later on. For instance, the wheel design was used in the ROOMSTER SCOUT and the FABIA SCOUT, the large glazed surface that extends from the roof through the rear window and then as far as the tailgate appeared in the RAPID SPACEBACK, and the square-shaped grille was subsequently used in other ŠKODAs.”

And what is the point of making concept cars that are never meant to reach the mass production stage? Well, it makes perfect sense, actually: people working in development and at management levels have ideas, visions, as to what directions ŠKODA cars should take. We can discuss things, but discussions without tangible solutions do not get us far. We need to check out various ideas to move forward. The Design Department is a sort of lab for new technologies – many new things would never be developed if this team did not exist. Take the headlamps and taillights as an example: if the designers had not designed narrow lights, there would have been no pressure to develop new technologies allowing smaller lights to be made. Without the Design Department, we might not have any modern LED lights on our cars today.