Click to enlarge

This is the interior of the Skoda Kodiaq RS that will make its debut next week at the 2018 Paris Motor Show. It will be the sporty flagship of Skoda’s large SUV that first surfaced in September 2016. There’s already a rugged Scout variant.

Unsurprisingly, the sporty Kodiaq’s interior is a dark place. The sports seats have integrated headrests, and feature seat cushions and backrests wrapped in Alcantara. There’s also contrasting stitching and red detailing with perforated Alcantara, along with carbon leather on the side bolsters and RS logos. The red threads also appear on the central and door armrests.

Click to enlarge

Another highlight is the sports steering wheel with a new RS logo and once again, contrasting red stitching. The door cards are covered in black Alcantara; but here, the diamond cross pattern gets black stitching. A carbon-look instrument panel, black roof liner and stainless steel pedal covers round off the interior sporting cues. Not mentioned, but we see RS logos on the DSG gear lever and infotainment screen.

We’ll have to wait till next week to learn more about the technical details of the RS. The standard seven-seater SUV sits on the VW Group’s MQB platform, and is capable of carrying 720 litres of cargo, expandable to 2,065 litres with the rear seats folded. An optional folding front passenger seat allows the Skoda to swallow items up to 2.8 metres long. The most powerful non-RS Kodiaqs have 180 PS/320 Nm from a 2.0 TSI petrol and 190 PS/400 Nm from a 2.0 TDI diesel.

GALLERY: Skoda Kodiaq