Skoda Superb’s Superb Twindoor

Skoda launched the new generation of the biggest car in its lineup, the Superb, at this year’s Geneva auto show. The VW Passat-based vehicle is the most refined and sophisticated car that the Czech automaker has ever produced, and it also happens to be both a hatchback and a sedan… at the same time.

Sales of large, non-premium branded cars (big cars that aren’t BMWs, Audis, etc.) are generally split up into two sectors, sedans and wagons, but rarely are there any hatchbacks to come along. Although European automakers aren’t averse to hatchbacks in smaller-sized vehicles, sedans tend to be more stylish and thus more popular. However, few will argue that a hatchback is ultimately more practical in terms of cargo volume and ease of access. That’s where the new Superb’s Twindoor comes in.

The first mode of the Twindoor is a standard trunk, which can be operated by the key remote or by a switch on the decklid. If a bigger aperture is needed to load something larger or bulkier into the cargo bay, a simple touch of a button located next to the trunk release will open the entire hatchback. The cargo area that’s accessible both ways measures 20 cubic feet, which is quite frankly giant in the European market, and very close to matching the 21 cubic feet trunk of our Ford Taurus.

Automakers are becoming increasingly clever about ways to make their vehicles different, and not just through styling, but by trunks and doors too. And in the same way that parents may try and slip in a few veggies on their kids’ plates at dinner, who knows, automakers may find a way to hide hatchbacks on more products.