THE OCTAVIA –  the first two generations of which have long been Skoda’s best-seller – already ticks  a lot of business users’ boxes.

But it doesn’t fit any of the standardised box sizes with which the industry seeks to categorise each market sector.

It is a fair bit bigger than the outgoing Octavia – a substantial 108mm longer in the wheelbase, 90mm longer overall and 45mm wider – and has a greater visual presence than, say, an Astra.

But it is still  shorter and lighter (even a remarkable 102kgs lighter than the current Octavia) than cars like the Insignia. It is literally in a size class of its own.

The achievement would be much the less if  the Skoda Octavia had all the styling flair and visual allure of a Citroen Berlingo to achieve its remarkable interior spaciousness.

Instead, its outward appearance is that of a sleekly , but not rakishly, styled saloon in comparison with which even most hatchback rivals look utilitarian and faintly immature.

The hatchback is well disguised within the roofline. But it is almost 1.2m long and when opened, the access to the boot to place large objects is extraordinary. With the rear seats folded – at a touch of a button –  there is 1,580 litres of load space; almost as useful as  a small van.

The Skoda Octavia, in reality, had to grow, to make room for its  – also new – smaller stablemate, the Rapid, which is an extra gap-filler in the Skoda range.

The Rapid was the cause of some disappointment at its launch a few months ago.

It embodied the new, sharper styling philosophy of Skoda, but ride and handling struggled to match the best rivals, refinement was not of the best and there was a sense of undue cheapness about some of the interior materials.

No such worries about the Octavia. Inside, there is a real sense of premium style  – it reminded this writer, bizarrely, of the 3 Series BMW –  about the  crisp design of the dashboard and instrument clusters, particularly in the lighter interior colours on offer. The materials are good, too; hard plastics being notable by their absence.

On some pretty evil pockmarked roads of southern Portugal, it also felt extremely well screwed together. Indeed, the feel-good factor of the spacious cabin is such that it raises the question of quite where Skoda will need to go with the next generation of the flagship Superb.

Brand director Alisdair Stewart expects, quite rationally, that the Octavia will make a lot of conquest sales from rival brands. But in an economic and environmental climate where the thoughts of many business users have already turned to downsizing, there is a chance that the lower reaches of the Superb range might be nibbled by the Octavia as well.

Steewart says he believes the new Octavia provides the opportunity to reverse the business user/ retail sales split  of the outgoing model. A little over 30 per cent of Octavia sales have been to SMEs and other business users. Stewart reckons that can be raised to 70 per cent with the new model. And Skoda’s fleet and business user sales and support operations are continuing on an expansion and strengthening programme to maximise the opportunity.

We’ve driven the Octavia 1.6 TDI SE, the current business car favourite, but the Octavia’s  appeal to both business and retail users  will grow later this year and early next with the launch of two more models at the exteme ends of the market spectrum. Of particular interest to company car drivers and SMEs is likely to be the 1.6 litre TDl turbodiesel “GreenLine”version, due in late 2013 with CO₂ emissions of just 89 g/km and consumption of 83mpg.

At the other extreme there will also be a sports vRS version expected to provide more power than the 200bhp of the current vRS model.