Skoda Auto revealed their first mid-size SUV for India, which is known as the Kushaq. The new mid-size SUV will be launched in June 2021 while the deliveries are expected to start from July 2022. Here, is a render of the upcoming Kushaq that has been imagined as a Convertible. The render has been done by SRK Designs and the video has been uploaded on their YouTube channel.

There is no sub-4 metre SUV on sale that is offered as a convertible from the factory. The closest small SUV that comes to mind is the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque which was the only mainstream SUV offered as a convertible from the factory. The render of the Kushaq with a drop-top does look quite nice and attractive.

The first thing that you would immediately notice is that there is no roof on the Kushaq which gives a sunny and airy experience to the occupants. The rendered Kushaq loses its four-door layout for a two-door layout. The two-door styling does suit the Kushaq quite well. The size of the front doors has also been increased so that the rear occupants could get seated easily. The stock 17-inch alloy wheels have been replaced with much larger 19-inches from the Skoda Octavia vRS. Besides this, there are no changes made to the car.

The Kushaq is the first product under INDIA 2.0 strategy that is being followed by Skoda and Volkswagen. Under this strategy, the manufacturers made a new modified version of their global MQB-A0 platform known as MQB-A0-IN. This new platform is exclusive to Indian and will help in reducing costs by achieving up to 95 percent of the localization rate.

The Kushaq has one of the longest wheelbases in its segment, measuring 2,651 mm and it has a decent boot space of 385-litres. It measures 4,225 mm in length, 1,760 mm in width, and has a height of 1,612 mm. The ground clearance is also plenty at 188 mm.

There are two petrol engines on offer with the Kushaq. There will be no diesel engine on offer. The 1.0-litre TSI will produce 115 PS of max power and 200 Nm of peak torque. The 1.5-litre TSI will produce 150 PS of max power and a peak torque output of 250 Nm. Both the engines will come with a 6-speed manual gearbox as standard. For the automatic transmissions, there will be a 6-speed torque converter on offer for the 1.0-litre TSI whereas the 1.5-litre TSI will come with a 7-speed DSG.

There is also quite a bit of equipment on offer. It comes with LED projector headlamps with LED Daytime Running Lamps, LED tail lamps,  electrically foldable and adjustable ORVMs with integrated LED turn indicators, electric sunroof, wireless phone charger, multi-function steering wheel, ventilated front seats, ambient lighting, a multi-information display and much more. There is also a floating 10-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

Skoda Kushaq is likely to be priced around Rs. 10 lakhs ex-showroom. It will be competing against the Kia Seltos, Nissan Kicks, Tata Harrier, MG Hector, Renault Duster and Hyundai Creta.