ŠKODA AFRIQ: Student Concept Car No. 8 is set for the rally track

› Rally version of the ŠKODA KAMIQ harks back to Dakar Rally
› Model name refers to ŠKODA AUTO’s responsibility for Group’s activities in North Africa
› Close collaboration with ŠKODA Motorsport

Mladá Boleslav, 23 May 2022 – Three, two, one – go! The ŠKODA AFRIQ could enter any special stage of the legendary Dakar Rally off the bat. The eighth ŠKODA Student Concept Car is a spectacular rally version of the ŠKODA KAMIQ. This is the first time the city SUV has served as the basis for a Student Concept Car. The experts from ŠKODA Motorsport were more closely involved in developing the ŠKODA AFRIQ than any other Student Concept Car. The project executed by the 25 apprentices, including three women, pays homage to the roots and the original home of the ‘Dakar’ and at the same time points to ŠKODA AUTO’s responsibility for Volkswagen Group activities in North Africa.

“Our Student Concept Car this year, the ŠKODA AFRIQ, is the impressive result of the tremendous creativity and talent of our up-and-coming employees. The ŠKODA AUTO Vocational School prepares them in the best possible way for their career at ŠKODA AUTO, giving them the opportunity to apply and consolidate what they have learned at an early stage in their practice-based training. I am especially pleased with our apprentices’ high level of innovation, which also has sustainability at its core. I am confident that with these committed young professionals, we are in an excellent position to shape the future of our company together and make our transformation a success.”

Maren Gräf, ŠKODA AUTO Board Member for People & Culture

Since 1 January 2021, ŠKODA AUTO has been responsible for all the Group’s activities in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria and is opening up new markets with growth potential in the region. As part of its NEXT LEVEL – ŠKODA STRATEGY 2030, ŠKODA AUTO is striving to become the leading European car manufacturer in the growth markets of India and North Africa by 2030 under the banner of ‘EXPLORE’. The ŠKODA AFRIQ Student Concept Car increases awareness of this responsibility for the North Africa region.

25 apprentices from the ŠKODA AUTO Vocational School, including three women, began working on the eighth Student Concept Car project in autumn 2020 and quickly decided on an all-wheel-drive rally version of the ŠKODA KAMIQ city SUV. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated restrictions, the apprentices were initially only able to meet online, so the planning and design phase for the Student Concept Car was prolonged by three months to April 2021. For this reason, the date for completing the vehicle was also postponed from June 2021 to May 2022, and the entire project was extended from one academic year to two – 2020/21 and 2021/22. ŠKODA fans, therefore, had to wait a year longer for the successor to the Spider ŠKODA SLAVIA.

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It took four months to build the ŠKODA AFRIQ, and the apprentices invested around 2,000 working hours. The body of the basic KAMIQ model was fundamentally reshaped: The rear doors of the city SUV were welded and the wings, wheel arches and bumpers of the two-door AFRIQ were enlarged. In addition, the suspension was reinforced. The extensive adaptations required to install the all-wheel drive from a ŠKODA OCTAVIA 4×4 were also very time-consuming. As in previous years, the structural body adjustments were particularly complex; the students had to level out the body, reshape all the edges of the vehicle and fill all the joints to shape the body perfectly.

Alongside a host of engineers and staff from the Technical Development, Design and Production departments, the apprentices also received support from experts in the ŠKODA Motorsport team. Given that the ŠKODA AFRIQ is a rally vehicle, ŠKODA Motorsport was more heavily involved in developing the model than ever before in the history of the ŠKODA Student Concept Car project. The experts from ŠKODA Motorsport shared their technical knowledge with the apprentices and supplied them with equipment. For example, they provided additional headlights, as well as ventilation and the tailgate with an integrated spoiler from the ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo and quick-release fasteners for the bonnet. Several other features from the ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo can be found onboard, including two cameras with microphones, the steering wheel, dashboard, six-point seat belts and special racing seats.