Trademarks are a big challenge while naming cars. India has already seen the use of “Endeavour” instead of the global name “Everest” due to trademark rights. The latest vehicle that was forced to change because of the trade is the Skoda Rapid Monte Carlo Edition. After a popular knitting manufacturer lodged a trademark violation against the special edition vehicle from Skoda.
Skoda has now renamed the same to Skoda Rapid Edition X and we hope that it does not clash with the interest of an English learning handbook, “Rapidex”. Skoda re-launched the special edition without any changes to the vehicle. An advertisement of the same confirms the change of the name. A court order earlier banned Skoda from selling the cars under “Monte Carlo”.
The special edition Rapid is based on the top-end variant of the Skoda Rapid and it gets many visual enhancements to make it look more premium. The new edition is available in only two colours – red and white. Both of them come with black accents on the various parts of the vehicle to make it look different and sporty.
The special edition Rapid also gets black accents on the headlamps, blacked out rearview mirrors and tail lamp cluster. The Monte Carlo edition also gets 16-inch alloy wheels as standard. There is also a black rear spoiler.
The black theme from the outside continues on the of the vehicle too. The interiors are all-black with contrasting red stitches on the seats and the steering wheel. the car also gets aluminium foot pedals.
The feature is similar to the top-end of the regular Rapid. It comes with cruise control, a 6.5-inch touchscreen infotainment system with MirrorLink, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto Connectivity.
The car is powered by 1.6-litre MPI petrol engine that generates 108 Bhp – 153 Nm. The diesel engine is a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine that generates 103 Bhp – 250. Both the engines get 5-speed manual transmission as standard. There is also an option of a 6-speed torque converter with the petrol and 7-speed DSG with the diesel.