The Volkswagen Group starts the new decade with a major offensive of fully electric cars. The ID.3 kicks off at Volkswagen itself, for Skoda the Enyaq can kick off. This SUV has a big task on its shoulders: to put Skoda on the map as an attractive brand for those who want to drive electric.
While for Volkswagen this year it all starts with the ID.3 – a Golf-sized car – Skoda’s first fully EV-developed car becomes an SUV. One important similarity between the two is the MEB platform. Various fully electric models of the Volkswagen Group will be released on this modular basis in the coming years. The Skoda Enyaq will thus be joined by several electric models in the Skoda showroom over time, but will always remain the pioneer of Skoda. The Enyaq leads the way to a likely all-electric future for the Czech brand.
Of course, this very important car will not just fall from the sky later this year. The first sign of life of the electric Skoda dates from a year ago. Then Skoda pulled the canvas of the Vision iV, the harbinger of the electric future of the brand. It is a sharply lined coupé SUV, which carries the now widely used designation iV to show that this is an EV. Skoda showed with the Vision iV which design language is used on its electric cars, but even more concrete it appears to have been a sharp preview of the Enyaq. The Enyaq will largely become a production version of that Vision iV, although it is very likely that it will also have such a “coupé version”.
The big difference between last year’s concept car and the Enyaq is that the latter does not have such a sloping roofline. The Enyaq is an SUV with a fairly stretched appearance. With a little imagination, you can even see a heavily inflated station wagon in it. Although the car clearly gets some deviating details compared to the Skodas with a fuel engine, you certainly do not have to look twice to recognize the Enyaq as Skoda. The idea is clear: an electrically powered car – unlike in the past – absolutely no longer has a strikingly different appearance. The technique must make the distinction.
Speaking of the technique; that’s still a little bit of coffee grounds. After all, we are dealing with the still new MEB platform and so far only the Volkswagen ID.3 based on that basis has been unveiled. It has a 150 hp or a 204 hp electric motor, which drives the rear wheels. We can also take this into account for the Enyaq. An electric motor front and rear, with accompanying four-wheel drive, also seems very plausible. The Vision iV had that too.
Incidentally, the same story applies to the Volkswagen ID.4. That will be the German brother of this Enyaq and the two will therefore be very similar both technically and in appearance. Volkswagen has already announced that the ID.4 should be able to reach about 500 kilometers on one battery depending on the selected powertrain. In all probability this also applies to the Enyaq. We expect the official unveiling later this year.