New Skoda Kodiaq vRS breaks a Nurburgring record ahead of launch [Video]

The new Skoda Kodiaq vRS – due to debut officially at the Paris Motor Show – has broken a Nurburgring record in the hands of Sabine Schmitz to state its performance credentials.

What do you do if you’re a maker of mainstream SUVs, but you’re planning a performance version? Well, you probably take it to the Nurburgring and try to break a lap record.

That’s what Skoda has decided to do with the yet-to-be-launched Kodiaq vRS, and had a dig through Nurburgring lap records to try and find something they could tackle. In the end, they came up with the lap record for a seven-seat SUV. Not the most competitive category, we’d guess.

Still, Skoda took the Kodiaq vRS to the Nurburgring (actually, it’s the Kodiaq RS in most of the world, but it’s vRS in the UK as it seems Ford has dibs on ‘RS’ here) and put Sabine Schmitz behind the wheel and turned in a time of 9:29.84 minutes. Which is nippy. Although it’s 1:38 minutes slower than the actual SUV lap record held by the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio.

Although not yet launched, and therefore no official specs, it seems likely the Kodiaq vRS has a 2.0 litre biturbo diesel engine borrowed from the VW Tiguan with 237bhp, and we know it has Dynamic Chassis Control which will have helped the record-breaking run.

No doubt we’ll learn more as the Kodiaq vRS nears its Paris debut.

Skoda Kodiaq vRS Nurburgring Record Video