A brand new electrical automotive property mannequin from Skoda was initially scheduled for unveiling throughout the subsequent two years, nevertheless this has been delayed till late 2027 or 2028, Autocar has reported.
The electrical property mannequin was to be a part of six EVs set for unveiling in that two yr interval, together with the Elroq C-segment electrical SUV that made its debut this week, the Epiq, a productionised Imaginative and prescient 7S idea, and the Enyaq and Enyaq Coupé crossover facelifts.
This property mannequin that’s within the pipeline is claimed to hold over the Octavia nameplate, which is at current in its fourth era for the mannequin that’s comprised of each notchback and property bodsystyles.
“With the slowdown of the transformation into battery-electric autos, we’re revisiting that [timeline]. We’re checking the sequence of these automobiles. The cadence now [is] the Enyaq Coupé, the Elroq, the subsequent one is the Epiq, and the subsequent one down the road would be the SUV, [and] the 7S [concept]. After that – it may very well be 2027, 2028 – we’re aiming for an Octavia property,” Skoda CEO Klaus Zellmer instructed Autocar.
Inner combustion engine-powered fashions such because the Fabia, Kamiq and Scala had been initially earmarked for discontinuation by 2027, nevertheless these fashions have been retained till the top of the last decade as electrical automobile gross sales are seeing a downturn, Zellmer mentioned.
Final month, the European Vehicle Producers’ Affiliation (ACEA) has known as for a revision of the European Union’s emissions targets for combustion engine-powered automobiles as gross sales of BEVs within the area continued to drop as of September.
New automotive registrations within the European Union dropped by 18.3% in August 2024 and registrations of battery-electric autos (BEVs) dropped by 43.9% to 92,627 models, down from 165,204 models in the identical interval final yr in keeping with the ACEA. In the meantime, market share held by BEVs within the area dropped 21% in comparison with the identical month within the earlier yr, in keeping with the affiliation.
Skoda is sacrificing revenue on the brand new Elroq EV SUV to make sure it’s priced competitively, Skoda advertising head Martin Jahn instructed Autocar, to ensure that it to draw sturdy gross sales and thus assist Skoda meet its CO2 emissions targets for 2025.
“I admit that this isn’t probably the most worthwhile automotive in our line-up, and we simply must work on the prices, particularly on the battery prices, to make the electrical automobiles extra worthwhile sooner or later,” Jahn mentioned.
The dearth of selection in EV bodystyles can be a barrier to rising EV gross sales, Zellmer added. “Folks all the time purchase automobiles for the least possible trigger they want them for. So that they purchase a combi [estate] as a result of they had been at one time limit… they needed to put this enormous field of a wardrobe within the automotive, so now they want a combi once more,” he mentioned.
Zellmer additionally mentioned the vary anxiousness is ‘completely emotional’ slightly than rational. “It’s altering the habits, however folks nonetheless discover it tough to alter their behaviour in the direction of battery-electric autos so we have to give folks time to be prepared for that, and because of this we provide alternate options,” Skoda’s CEO mentioned.
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