Earlier this month at the annual Worthersee event in Austria, where GTI fans gather together to celebrate their beloved brand of car, Skoda – a subsidiarity of Volkswagen Group – unveiled a very sporty version of the Rapid family saloon. This concept explores the tuning possibilities of the rather bland Skoda sedan, and we have to say, it is really rather good.

Skoda is yet to reveal the interior, and the performance specs – although it probably doesn’t feature a tuned engine. But from what we can see looking at the pictures of the car’s exterior, the Rapid Sport Concept boasts a carefully-designed body kit that suits the car perfectly, giving a nice balance between sportiness and maintaining dignity. That’s the thing about factory-fitted body kits. Unlike the aftermarket models, they rarely look bad.

The kit on the Rapid consists of a front air splitter, a sports grille, vented hood, side skirts, a massive rear diffuser and a trunk lid spoiler. New tailpipes and a magnificent two-tone red and grey paint job complement the styling kit, while large wheels – boasting the same color – fill up the flared wheelarches to provide the Rapid with a bold and commanding stance.

The car also receives a full interior treatment with Recaro seats, sport trimming, new steering wheel, aluminum pedal set and door sills, the lot. Skoda is not really famous for making sporty cars, save a couple of very fine hot hatches they have in their portfolio, but this concept shows the can get something cooking if they want to.