While the world premiere of the Skoda’s new Kodiaq SUV might have hogged headlines since the start of September, a little known fact is that there is growing demand for the other SUV from the Czech carmaker – the Yeti.

Now in its seventh production year, the Yeti, which debuted in 2009, has sold over 580,000 units worldwide. Due to continued high demand, Skoda is expanding capacity for production.

In the UK, Skoda has seen the Yeti’s popularity continue to rise, with nearly 60,000 registrations since its 2010 market introduction. In 2015 it had its best-ever year, with 13,306 examples being snapped up by UK customers and a total of 99,500 units being sold worldwide. Between January and August 2016, approximately 61,700 customers worldwide opted for a Yeti, with over 14 percent of those allocated to UK customers. 

In India, the Yeti did not sell as well as its manufacturer expected it would and since its launch in January 2011, it has sold a total of 4,443 units till end-July 2016.

“We are delighted to be able to deliver as many Yetis to our customers in Europe as they wish,” says Michael Oeljeklaus, Skoda Board Member for Production and Logistics. “By using the production capacities of another European plant within our international production network, we can respond satisfactorily to the high demand.”

The compact SUV is currently produced at four plants: In addition to Kvasiny in the Czech Republic, the model is manufactured at Solomonovo (Ukraine), Nizhniy Novgorod (Russia), Öskemen / Ust Kamenogorsk (Kazakhstan) and Anting (China).

In order to meet demand for the Yeti models in Europe, Skoda is utilising the additional production capacities at the Nizhniy Novgorod plant. The Yeti has been produced here since 2012 alongside the Octavia. Production in Nizhny Novgorod is carried out in partnership with the Volkswagen Group Russia and the Russian automobile manufacturer GAZ Group.

Read more: Skoda sells 80,700 vehicles in August, up 14% YoY