Skoda to remain in the small wagon segment with the next Fabia

Skoda will once again offer a station wagon version of its small-car range when it replaces its Fabia next year, continuing with a body style that has disappeared from Europe's largest segment after Renault and Peugeot exited the niche market.

"We will again have a combi [wagon] version," Skoda CEO Thomas Schaefer wrote on his LinkedIn page.

"This is very important to us because it underlines our commitment to offering affordable, practical mobility in the entry-level segments," he said.

Schaefer said the wagon will go onsale after the market launch of the fourth-generation Fabia hatchback. Skoda will unveil the new Fabia next year.

Skoda said earlier this year that the wagon accounts for 34 percent of the Fabia's overall sales.

Skoda has offered a wagon version of the Fabia range since it was launched in 2000 and has sold 1.5 million of them since, it said in a statement in September.

Skoda has Europe's small wagon sector to itself after French rivals including Renault and Peugeot stopped offering the body style on the Clio and 208, respectively. Dacia also plans to stop selling its Logan MCV, which despite being larger competes with the Fabia Combi on price.

The current Fabia Combi was launched in 2014, winning over buyers with its practical trunk that offered 530 liters of space, more than some wagons in the segment above.

The Fabia is Skoda's No. 2-selling model in Europe with 81,098 registrations in the first 10 months of the year, according to data from JATO Dynamics. The Octavia compact was the brand's biggest seller during the period with a volume of 145,959 units.

Wagons are popular in eastern Europe, where Skoda's strongest customer base is. While the Fabia Combi will have no direct rivals in Europe, the body style is still popular in Russia where Lada offers wagon versions of its Granta and Vesta small cars.