With the brand-new Kodiaq being the star in Skoda’s line-up, the Czech car maker decided to promote it in an overzealous, “emotional” ad.
Despite a large boot (from 720 liters all-the way up to 2,065 liters with the rear seats folded), spacious interior, and a wide array of four-pot engines, it seems like Skoda doesn’t want you to view the Kodiaq as a utilitarian car, but rather as an automobile designed with emotion and sculpted after one of nature’s wildest, largest beasts.
That’s probably why in Skoda’s latest ad, Jozef Kabaň, the model’s designer, is seen caressing the Kodiaq’s body and putting it into drive without going anywhere with it.
It may look silly at first, but Skoda wants to show Kabaň – who designed the Bugatti Veyron, by the way – actually taming the beast within. The name Kodiak (spelled with a “k” instead of a “q”) is the largest recognized subspecies of brown bear, and one of the two largest bears alive today (the other being the polar bear) that lives on a remote island with the same name – hence the sudden transformation of the car’s body into a brown bear’s fur at the end of the video.
The association with the animal probably explains the engine noise as well, which, in the ad, growls more like a V8 than anything else. Don’t get fooled, though, as the biggest powerplant offered, at this point, on the Kodiaq is a 2.0-litre gasoline unit that develops 187 hp.