The Skoda L&K 130 is the ultimate cyclist’s car and we’ve driven It
Fri, 20 Jun 2025
What you see here, sadly, is a Skoda Superb you can’t buy. It’s a one-off, dubbed the Skoda L&K 130 and it’s the latest in a long line of cars to come from groups of students at the Skoda Vocational School.
Previous one-off highlights have included a campervan-converted Skoda Enyaq, an open-top Skoda Karoq and a Skoda Kamiq rally car.
The idea behind this one is to be the ultimate support car for cycle races, which makes sense given that Skoda's history is rooted in the cycle world, plus it currently sponsors the Tour de France.
Simply whacking stuff on a bike carrier atop the Skoda Superb’s roof would be far too ordinary, of course, so what the group of 28 students did for this year’s project is convert a Skoda Superb Estate into a pick-up truck. The bikes' rear wheels are on the new load bed, with the fronts on the roof.
Here’s the clever bit - the back of the Superb can be electrically or manually retracted, lowering the bikes to a level that makes getting them on and off far easier.
Two bikes are stored this way using modified Skoda bicycle carriers and there’s a regular one on the roof to stow a third. The right-hand rear passenger door opens with a lever sliding mechanism, staying close to the car to avoid any competitors getting clobbered, triggering a massive pile-up of top bike racers and expensive carbon fibre.
The students did try a more conventional slider mechanism, which wasn't really suitable for the Superb, instead opting for an intricate-looking hinged system.
As a proof of concept, which requires careful handling, at the special vehicle's launch event at the Třebešín Velodrome in Prague, only people from the Azubi programme were allowed to operate it.
Inside there's an additional screen to show race data with another on the back of the front passenger seat for a race technician to use. There's also a radio, a powered coolbox and a storage net on the roof hung from 3D-printed mounts.
The car isn't road legal, so although we did get a chance to drive it, our experience was at low speeds around the velodrome. Save for the occasional noise of bikes moving around on the roof, or the sight of the redesigned back end from the rear-view mirror, it drives much like any other Skoda Superb.
This particular example is plug-in hybrid-powered, using a 1.5-litre engine and an electric motor combination for a total system power of 204PS. EV running comes courtesy of its 25.7kWh battery pack. It's also the first PHEV to be used as a base for a project.
Although still unmistakably a Skoda Superb, it's been cut just behind the rear pillars and given a new rear bulkhead and windscreen, shortened roof rails and modified door pillars.
The colour scheme - inside and out - is inspired by the original logo of Laurin & Klement, the forerunner of Skoda Auto. You'll also find an L&K badge - again, 3D-printed - sitting proudly on the nose.
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