- Price of the base variant revised by Rs 30,000

- Upper variants costlier by Rs 20,000

Skoda had removed the base Rider variant of the Rapid from its official website last month and the only variants on offer were the Rider Plus, Ambition, Onyx, Style, and the Monte Carlo trims. Now, the Czech car maker has reinstated the Rider variant with a revised price tag of Rs 7.79 (ex-showroom) which is Rs 30,000 more than its previous listing price.

The Rider is strategically positioned by the brand and still remains as the most affordable sedan when compared to some of its rivals like the Volkswagen Vento, Hyundai Verna, Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, and the new Honda City. It offers a decent list of features and equipment such as tilt and telescopic adjustable steering wheel, all four power windows, automatic climate control, rear aircon vents, electrically operated ORVMs, and rear parking sensors.

The price of the level two variant, Rider Plus has also been hiked by Rs 20,000 and now starts at Rs 8.19 lakh for the manual transmission and Rs 9.69 lakh for the automatic variant. Further, the upper trims – Ambition and Onyx have also faced an escalation in the price of up to Rs 20,000. We have driven the Skoda Rapid TSI Automatic and you can read our first-drive review here.

Skoda is on product offensive for the new year and plans to introduce at least three new models by the end of the year. In the pipeline is the new updated Skoda Octavia and the Kodiaq which will be powered by the TSI range of petrol engines. Additionally, the Kushaq is also expected to hit the roads by March 2021 and will go up against the likes of the Tata Harrier, Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, and the MG Hector.