The Skoda Fabia estate will be given a facelift in a little over a year and these spy pictures provide a glimpse of the changes that will be applied to the 2018 model.
Shown during testing in the Alps, this development car wears light camouflage to hide a new grille, adjusted headlights and redesigned bumpers.
The changes follow similar alterations to Skoda's flagship model, the Skoda Superb; they give both the Skoda Fabia and Fabia estate sharper headlights, chrome finished grille slats and reshaped fog lights.
This test car’s lower grille also has a honeycomb pattern, rather than the slatted design of the current production car.
Powering the facelifted Fabia will be a largely unchanged engine line-up, but Skoda is expected to swap the incumbent 1.2 TSI engine for a 113bhp 1.0-litre TSI, as first seen on the Skoda Octavia.
The turbocharged unit will join two other three-cylinder engines in the 2018 Fabia’s line-up, but these options – currently available in 59bhp and 74bhp guises – are naturally aspirated and as such sit at the bottom of the range.
Additionally, the 2018 car will gain more driver assistance features, including adaptive cruise control, lane assist and an intelligent park assistant. This technology already features on the Octavia, and the fitment of a camera on this Fabia estate development car suggests it’s being tested for the Fabia.
Given that the current Fabia is barley two years old, it’s unlikely that the facelift will go on sale before the close of 2017. However, it could be revealed at the end of next year a few months ahead of order books opening.
