Skoda Mountiaq pick-up breaks cover

What happens if you give 35 millennials a Kodiaq to work on? Orange pick-up, obviously

Last week we brought you the work of Volkswagen’s budding apprentices, who were let loose on both a Golf GTI and Golf R to showcase their talents. This time around it’s the turn of their counterparts from across the VW Group, with 35 attendees of the Skoda Vocational School having a crack at modifying one of the brand’s current line-up.

Rather than choosing the easy route by slapping some rims and an extra hundred horsepower on a Octavia vRS, however, the budding youngsters have decided to take the road less travelled – and built a machine to help them do so. The result is the Skoda Mountiaq, a rugged pick-up based on the Kodiaq SUV. Over 2,000 hours of work went into the design over eight months in order to complete the vehicle in time for its May deadline.

So what have they done? Well, fairly obviously, the roof’s gone. This required reinforcing the body beforehand, as well as fashioning a new rear panel and windows for the cab. The doors were then shortened and widened to maintain their proportion, the bumpers were modified front and rear, running boards were added to the sills and the back end was completely redesigned around the new functional tailgate.

The pickup boasts all the usual aesthetic accoutrements, including a roof-mounted light bar, front winch, snorkel, bull bar, and a hidden storage compartment beneath the bed deck. It’s also been gifted some additional functional capability with a 10cm increase in ride height resulting in 29cm ground clearance, and 17-inch Rockstar II wheels wrapped in special off-road tyres allowing for a 3cm addition to the vehicle’s track width.

Being millennials, the apprentices couldn’t help but include a little tech in the build, so the obligatory 2,000-watt amp and subwoofer, an integrated fridge, two built-in walkie talkies and a set of 3-D printed hub ornaments are all present and correct. Illuminated badges, including a glowing Skoda logo in the roof lining, and unique Sunset Orange paint complete the look, which we think you’ll agree is a rather successful one….

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