New ŠKODA FABIA: what do its co-authors have to say about it?

What was your role in the development of the all-new ŠKODA FABIA? What was the hardest thing, what went without a hitch?
Balancing various requirements so that the final product would meet all criteria as far as legislation, construction, design and others are concerned, but at the same time fulfilling or exceeding the customers’ expectations. And exactly that is also an important part of my responsibility. Putting great added value, technology, ideas, innovations into the final product and finding the best possible solutions for our customers – all of that was also a very interesting and important part of our teamwork..

From the perspective of your department or specialisation, what was the biggest highlight of the all-new FABIA and why? What are you the proudest of?
What makes me proud is that the whole development team managed to push the safety, comfort and functionality to the best possible level – while creating a well-balanced and working unit. If you ask me, the highlights would be the Travel Assist system, lights, a wide range of Simply Clever solutions, fine-tuned chassis and both active and passive safety features such as the knee and rear side airbags and new safety systems.

How is the all-new FABIA exceptional from the perspective of your specialisation? Where do you see the biggest progress compared to the previous generation?
The all-new FABIA is yet more advanced, with fresh design and full of new features. We can see the improvements with the mentioned safety systems or features such as the heated windscreen and steering wheel or the two-zone air-conditioning.

What was your role in the development of the all-new ŠKODA FABIA? What was the hardest thing, what went without a hitch?
My role was to lead the interior design team to create the best possible interior. Thanks to the new platform, we were able to achieve a pretty good result, where the cockpit is fresh, dynamic and following the same design DNA of the other ŠKODA interiors. Symmetry, democracy, a welcoming interior on top of all the features that make the interior connected – that was our main goal.

From the perspective of your department or specialisation, what was the biggest highlight of the all-new FABIA and why? What are you most proud of?
The interior. It gives a lot of emotions mixing all the high-tech that a customer might need with amazing comfort and functionality.

How is the all-new FABIA exceptional from the perspective of your specialisation? Where do you see the biggest progress compared to the previous generation?
The new generation of FABIA progressed in all the segments. It offers more space, it is more comfortable, much more practical, offers the best-in-class infotainment and connectivity, but what I like a lot in the interior is the game we play with all the materials. From my point of view, the interior of a car should reflect your personality and the spaces you like – your living room or simply your home. By implementing soft materials on the dashboard, in combination with screens, panels and all the other elements in the car, we are bringing this cosy home-like feeling into the car.

What was your role in the development of the all-new ŠKODA FABIA?
My role was to represent the customer during the product development process. We look at the market trends, at our competition and identify the customer needs and requirements. We then try to bring these needs and the features into the product development process, with the objective to create a model that is successful in different markets.

What was the hardest thing?
In this segment we work under tight budget and cost control conditions. While we always want the best for the customer – sometimes we have to make compromises to achieve our goal and still deliver a great value for money proposition to our customers. I believe that with the new FABIA we have achieved this.

And what went without a hitch?
Developing the all-new FABIA requires teamwork in which all departments push for the same goal and in the same direction. Good open communication and a pragmatic approach with a solution-oriented mindset was the standard mode of operation. For the 4th generation the FABIA team achieved this, always with keeping the end customer in mind. You can see the excellent result of this teamwork by experiencing the new FABIA.

From the perspective of your department or specialisation, what was the biggest highlight of the all-new FABIA and why? What are you the proudest of?
There are too many highlights to list here. From my perspective the new FABIA is the perfect blend of emotional, sporty ŠKODA design while offering great functionality and practicality for a car in this segment. Technically it has one of the best in class CD values, ensuring good consumption figures, the latest driving assistance systems incl. Travel-, Side, Park-assist and can offer up to 43 Simply Clever Items to make living with the new FABIA bit easier and enjoyable. We can also be proud of the fact it is the only vehicle in its class with rear air vents, best in class boot space with 380l.

How is the all-new FABIA exceptional from the perspective of your specialisation? Where do you see the biggest progress compared to the previous generation?
Every aspect of the car has been significantly improved compared to the previous generation, from size to design to available technologies. We are proud of what the team has created and are confident that with this new generation we can continue the long successful history of the FABIA. If I was to sum the new FABIA up in one sentence, I would say, “Everything you need – and a little more.”