Skoda Yetis Join Search for Namesake Creature

Skoda U.K. is sending a flock of Yetis halfway around the world in search of the legendary two-legged version.

A fleet of Yeti compact CUVs next month will drive high into the Bhutan mountains to visit areas where sightings have been reported as part an expedition led by British adventurer Alastair Humphreys.

The Skoda team will start its journey in Samdrup Jonkhar in Southeast Bhutan and travel north more than 300 miles (480 km) and to an altitude of 11,580 ft. (3,530 m).

This takes the team to the 162,000-acre (65,559-ha) Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, where the yeti, also called the Abominable Snowman, is thought to reside. Local experts will act as guides and will show the team where past sightings have been made.

Bhutan, in the eastern Himalayas, is bordered by China and India.

The Czech Republic-built Yeti CUVs will carry the team and its equipment across some of the country’s most challenging roads. Skoda says the Yeti – the CUV, that is – can survive the harshest of conditions and is perfectly at home in the rugged mountain range.

The vehicles will be Yeti Outdoor models equipped with Skoda’s optional off-road package that adds additional protection to the underside of the vehicle.

The yeti – the animal – has been part of Bhutanese folklore since the late 18th century. Thought to be a part-man, part-animal, it has been the subject of countless expeditions over the past 200 years with number of high-profile sightings and discoveries of evidence that remain unexplained.

“Whether the yeti exists or not may always be a mystery, but what is true is the strong belief that the people of Bhutan have in the creature,” Humphreys says in a statement.

Many locals firmly believe in the Yeti’s existence, while experts have suggested in recent years the creature could be a present-day specimen of the giant ape Gigantopithecus which is thought to be extinct.

But unlike the Himalayan yeti, the Skoda version is somewhat easier to spot in the wild – more than 580,000 have been sold since production started in 2009.