New Skoda Octavia III Live Photos and Videos from Czech Presentation

As its most important new model of the past few years, Skoda wants to give the third generation of the Octavia as much publicity as possible, which is why the Czech carmaker planned a special event for the press at its headquarters in Mlada Boleslav earlier this week ahead of the car's first public outing at the Geneva Salon in March.

Skoda's bestseller has been designed from the ground up sharing its MQB-platform and mechanical hardware with the latest generations of the VW Golf, Seat Leon and Audi A3 compacts, all of which were released in Europe this year.

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Skoda Begins Teasing New 2013 Octavia with Promo Film

The countdown for the official unveiling of the third iteration of Skoda's popular Octavia begins with a promotional film that concentrates on the design process, which, judging from the recent spy shots, is arguably one of the less interesting aspects of the Czech carmaker's model.

The new 2013 Octavia evolves the design of the current model and applies it on a slightly larger body that rides on the Volkswagen Group's much-touted MQB platform architecture.

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Incredible High-Speed Police Pursuit of a Motorcyclist through Prague

You may as well dim the lights, grab some popcorn and sit comfortably because the video footage that follows has all the ingredients and thrills of a true Hollywood blockbuster. Only difference is that, what you are about to see, actually happened in real life.

Our only gripe is the somewhat poor video quality, but then again, that's probably to be expected from a camera positioned on the dashboard of a police car.

So what exactly are we looking at here? To make a long story short, a Czech police car (a Skoda Octavia 1.8-liter TSI, according to a poster on YouTube) patrolling the roads of the country's capital city of Prague, spotted a motorcyclist without a license plate entering a Bus/Taxi only lane and signaled him to stop.

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Scoop: All-New 2013 Skoda Octavia Caught on Camera Again

Here's some fresh spy footage of the of the next generation of Skoda's Octavia compact model, captured only a few days after another YouTube user posted a video of a black prototype with hardly any camouflage.

The silver-colored example seen in this clip offers us an even better look at the Czech carmaker's upcoming notchback model, though keep in mind that the front and rear lights may be covered in phony decals, a practice commonly used lately by the VW Group.

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Scoop: New 2013 Skoda Octavia Mk3 Filmed on the Road with Barely any Camo

Czech carmaker Skoda is wrapping up the development of its highly important Octavia III, as a prototype of the compact model was recorded on the road virtually camouflage-free, with the only parts of the car covered being the rear window corner and the a section of the headlamps.

While not straying too far away from the current model's shape, the third generation Octavia adopts Skoda's smoother design language with a lower and more sharply styled front end.

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Scoop: New 2013 Skoda Octavia Mk3 Filmed on the Road with Barely any Camo

Czech carmaker Skoda is wrapping up the development of its highly important Octavia III, as a prototype of the compact model was recorded on the road virtually camouflage-free, with the only parts of the car covered being the rear window corner and the a section of the headlamps.

While not straying too far away from the current model's shape, the third generation Octavia adopts Skoda's smoother design language with a lower and more sharply styled front end.

Read more »

One Helluva Dedicated Traffic Cop Hitches a Ride to Catch Lawbreaker

Now this is one traffic officer who really takes his job seriously! On September 19 (the date shown on the footage is wrong), a 46-year old policeman stopped a black Skoda Octavia for a traffic violation on the road alongside the Fontanka River in Central Saint Petersburg, Russia.

A driver of an unrelated car or truck, who we come to know as Roman Ilchenko from the name listed on his YouTube channel, was traveling on the street recording everything though his dashboard-mounted camera.

At around 1 minute and 25 seconds into the first video and on the right side of the road, you can see the traffic officer holding on to the side of the Octavia that was trying to make a getaway.

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One Helluva Dedicated Traffic Cop Hitches a Ride to Catch Lawbreaker

Now this is one traffic officer who really takes his job seriously! On September 19 (the date shown on the footage is wrong), a 46-year old policeman stopped a black Skoda Octavia for a traffic violation on the road alongside the Fontanka River in Central Saint Petersburg, Russia.

A driver of an unrelated car or truck, who we come to know as Roman Ilchenko from the name listed on his YouTube channel, was traveling on the street recording everything though his dashboard-mounted camera.

At around 1 minute and 25 seconds into the first video and on the right side of the road, you can see the traffic officer holding on to the side of the Octavia that was trying to make a getaway.

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Man Gives Group of Girls Riding a Strange Beer Bike Bar in Holland a Rear-End High-Five

From the strange, albeit sometimes humorous, corners of the web comes this video of at least three men who were driving along the road in a Skoda, likely in Holland, judging by the language.

The young pranksters saw their moment of internet glory when they stumbled upon a strange mobile contraption, which you could call a sitting bar on wheels with the customers appearing to provide motivation via pedaling.

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Skoda Proves it has a Smiley Sense of Humor, Plus Anastacia's New Video Clip Starring the Citigo

Not to overload you with Skoda news, but the VW Group-controlled Czech automaker has plenty going on these days, from the presentation of the all-new Rapid compact sedan to a full-blown marketing campaign for the Citigo mini and everything in-between.

Yet Skoda still found some time to humor us with the release of a head-on picture of the Octavia Green Line II, in which as you can see for yourself, the steering wheel design and instrument panel gauges form a very happy face.

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2013 Skoda Rapid Sedan Detailed in 106 HD Photos and on Film

If you weren’t content with the two official images and scant powertrain details on the new Rapid sedan released by Skoda last month, we have more than 100 pictures and additional specs on the compact sedan's lineup.

Like its sister model the Seat Toledo, the Rapid makes use of on an extended version of the VW Polo's platform and measures 4.48 m (176.4 in.) in length, 1.71 m (67.3 in.) in width and 1.46 m (57.5 in.) in height.

The Czech automaker said that despite the car's compact dimensions, it will "comfortably seat up to five persons" providing ample luggage space.

While we cannot comment on the passenger room yet, the new Skoda that is equipped with a tailgate that lifts together with the rear window has a capacious boot space of 550 litres, which is just shy of the 560 litres offered by the much larger BMW 5-Series Estate.

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The Mystery of the Flattened Down Skoda Models Solved

A couple of days ago, we showed you a video of two heavy-duty tractors destroying a new Skoda Superb and asked if any of you, our readers, had information on what was going on in this clip. It didn't take long for one of you to solve the mystery.

Carscoop reader Michał Jakóbik emailed us a link to Czech website Autocz that not only explains everything but also includes three more videos of the tractors putting down a Fabia estate, a Yeti crossover and an Octavia Scout.

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How to Destroy a Skoda Superb with a Tractor and a Bobcat

Like the person who shared this video on YouTube, we have no idea why these men are destroying what looks like a perfectly good car – a Skoda Superb, to be precise. For all we know it could be a skit from a television show.

Still, that didn’t hold us back from spending close to four minutes watching a backhoe-loader with the help of a skid-steer loader doing their thing on the Czech saloon.

Head past the jump to check out the video for yourself and if you happen to have more information, leave us a comment.

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New Skoda Rapid Saloon gets its First Commercial

Even though Skoda's new offering in the highly competitive compact sedan market will not be arriving in showrooms across Europe before the fourth quarter of the year, a TV spot on the Rapid has already hit the interwebs providing us a first look at the car on the move. Read more »

Did This Man Really Light up a Match to Look into the Gas Tank?

We cannot say for sure that the driver of this Skoda Octavia lit up a match to see if his tank was full while filling up at a gas station, as claimed by the poster of the video, though admittedly, at around 30 seconds into the clip, we see him reaching into his pocket and then doing something near the fuel cap.

Whatever he did, his actions sparked a very dangerous fire. And just to make a bad situation worse, out came the gas station employee, who only by sheer luck put out the flames... Watch the video after the break and you will see what we mean.

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Czech Coast Customs: Xzibit Does a Pimp My Ride Commercial for Skoda Yeti

The original Pimp My Ride television show hosted by Xzibit, née Alvin Nathaniel Joiner, remains one of MTV's most popular programs not only in the States, but worldwide as well, which is probably why a non-American brand like the VW Group's Skoda division decided to create a commercial that spoofs the series.

The spot stars Xzibit and his crew who work in a tuning shop under the name of "Czech Coast Customs" (instead of West Coast Customs, if you're not familiar with the TV show) with the advertised car in question being the Skoda Yeti crossover.

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Would You Consider this Skoda Octavia Incident a Win or a Fail?

The video you're about to check out after the break starts off with the driver of a Skoda Octavia overtaking one too many cars on a fairly narrow road with one lane for each direction.

Because of the snow and the freezing temperatures, the road conditions weren't great and as a result, just as the Octavia driver tried to snuck back into his lane, he lost control of the vehicle. Want to know what happens next? Head over past the break to find out.

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