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Options for electric cars in all shapes and sizes are about to get a lot broader, especially if Skoda has anything to say about it, with half a dozen EVs set to go on sale over the next three years from the Czech brand.
Skoda has announced its short-term product plan outline and timing, with six electric cars (including updated versions of the already-launched Enyaq and Enyaq Coupe) set to be launched by 2026.
While Skoda promises a new estate car (or wagon to us) to take its “particularly popular and successful Skoda bodystyle” to the electric car space in 2026 as a successor to the Octavia, other models in its planned electric SUV range might be of more relevance to the high-riding Australian market.
In addition to the new EV models, Skoda has also confirmed updates to its combustion-engined range, with 2023 set to be the launch year for new generations of the Skoda Kodiaq large SUV and the Superb sedan, as ICE cars "continue to play a key role during the transition as the brand shifts its focus towards electric mobility".
The Skoda Octavia wagon, Scala hatch and Kamiq small SUV will also be updated over the next couple of years.
Though there won’t likely be any word on the upcoming EV models for Australia until they are revealed, the popularity of the Skoda Kamiq and Karoq small and medium SUVs suggests the brand’s planned sub-compact and small SUVs, the latter confirmed to be named Elroq, will be of interest to buyers here.
The smallest model will, in Europe, be a Spanish-built sub-25,000 Euro offering, which translates to about AUD$41,500 and will be around 4.1 metres long.
The larger Elroq will be about 4.5-metres long and be the electric successor to the Skoda Karoq.
But Skoda will also offer a much larger SUV, yet to be named but based on the Vision 7S concept revealed last year, planned to launch in 2026 and be the halo offering of the brand.
The large SUV will be a seven-seater, likely as a rival to the likes of the Kia EV9 and as a sibling to a future electric Touareg from Volkswagen.
Given it will be built on the VW MEB platform, expect the large SUV to feature up to 175-200kW charging speeds, a range higher than 600km, and an all-wheel-drive dual-motor powertrain as its primary offering.
The brand says its line-up will be the “most diverse” it has ever been once its new model expansion is complete.
The announcement of the model plan comes after Volkswagen announced a similar plan to introduce a series of SUVs and an affordable compact city car, and a week after Skoda announced it would handle development of the Volkswagen Group’s key engine families.
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