Next-Gen Skoda Fabia Early Mule Spied Disguised As VW Polo

About 10 days ago, we got an official confirmation that Skoda is working on the next-generation Fabia through the voice of the company's new CEO, Thomas Schäfer. He told media representatives that the new supermini will arrive sometime in 2021 and today we can share the very first photos of the car.

No, we are not kidding. What you see in the gallery below is (most likely) an early mule for the Fabia still wearing the body of a Volkswagen Polo. The Czech B-segment hatch will finally switch to Volkswagen Group's MQB A0 platform that also underpins the Volkswagen Polo, SEAT Ibiza, and Audi A1. This easily explains the Polo clothes as Skoda is probably not willing to unhide the design of the new Fabia yet. In fact, this could be the very same mule that Skoda's new CEO drove before saying "I can tell you already that I can't wait to bring that car to market."

Even though this prototype is not wearing its production body, it has already been suggested that the new Fabia will receive a funkier design for its fourth generation. Not much else can be said about the model's appearance but it's probably a safe bet to assume it'll be heavily inspired by the Scala, new Octavia, and Kamiq.

Being underpinned by the MQB A0 means the new Fabia will share almost its entire technological base with the sister models Polo and Ibiza. This includes the engines, transmissions, and other technologies, which will be shared between the three hatchbacks, plus the Audi A1. As a side note, the switch to the new architecture probably means there won't be a new Fabia wagon.

In the end, one thing we'd like to point out is that there's still a chance that this is a test car for a facelifted version of the Volkswagen Polo. The Czech registration plates and the sensors attached to the wheel hubs tell us this is 99.9 percent a Fabia mule but we'll leave the door 0.01 percent open for a refreshed Polo.