New Skoda electric cars coming to Australia within a year of Europe

A wave of next-generation Skoda electric cars are planned for Australia after the Enyaq family SUV arrives towards the end of next year.

And the boss of Skoda Australia says there are due within six to 12 months of the first European deliveries – compared to the three and a half years it took the Enyaq to reach local showrooms.

The Volkswagen-owned Czech car maker has outlined plans for six new electric vehicles in Europe due between 2024 and 2026, as part of plans to see battery-powered cars account for at least 70 per cent of Skoda sales in Europe by 2030.

Among them is a city SUV with a targeted price in Europe of less than $25,000, a Toyota Kluger-sized seven-seat family SUV, and a lower-slung wagon.

MORE: Skoda outlines electric-car future, six models due before 2026

The roll-out will also include a facelift for the Enyaq. Even though the current model isn’t due in Australia until late 2024, the heavy update is scheduled for European showrooms in 2025 – and in Australia sometime in 2026, less than two years after the initial launch.

The first model to launch in the European roll-out outlined by Skoda is a small to mid-size SUV (above, second image) designed to replace the Skoda Karoq, measuring 4500mm long and set to wear the Elroq badge when it launches next year.

Set to follow in 2025 is a 4.1m-long city SUV (below, first image) with a footprint similar to today’s Fabia city hatch, and a targeted starting price of less than $25,000.

Also scheduled for 2025 are the facelifted Enyaq and Enyaq Coupe, which will adopt the new ‘Modern Solid’ design language seen on the other cars.

Following in 2026 is due to be a 4.7m-long, Octavia-sized wagon – as traditional wagon body styles are still popular in Europe – and a larger 4.9m-long seven-seat SUV (below, second image) previewed by the Vision 7S concept last year, which will be about the same size as a Toyota Kluger.

“All [are due on sale in Europe by the end of] 2026, and we will get them swiftly after,” Skoda Australia director Michael Irmer told Drive.

Mr Irmer said the facelifted Enyaq and Enyaq Coupe would follow “a year or two later” than the current Enyaq’s Australian launch – placing them sometime in 2026, or into 2027.

When asked if Australia could expect the other four new electric models to reach Australia within six to 12 months after Europe, the executive told Drive: “Yeah, six to 12 months.

“We used to [introduce] six to nine months roughly behind; 12 months is long already.

“Three months is the travel time, that’s clear. And then because sometimes the factory staggers the ramp-up phase in production in batches, because it has almost a hundred countries and they have different requirement specifications … [Australia] might not be in the first production week but maybe in the eighth production week.”

“So there’s an additional delay but it’s not massive, about two [to three] months or so … so that’s why I say six months, maybe nine,” Mr Irmer said.

“The car has to be ready to be displayed as well when you run the papers through the department [to certify the vehicle for sale with Australian motor vehicle regulators], you need to be able to just demonstrate the vehicle too … This goes a bit in sequence but the delay is not much.”

In comparison, Mr Irmer said the current Enyaq – as the company’s first electric car for Australia – was a “very different situation.”

“The delays [for Enyaq] were simply because as the first electric car, the decision to bring the car has to be done about two years before we actually have it,” the Skoda Australia boss told Drive.

“And at the time the [government electric-car] policy wasn’t there, the [sales] figures weren’t there. When you look at VFACTS [industry sales data] the BEV [battery-electric] car figures were negligible.

“So the judgement was, sorry, Australia is not ready for it yet, let’s put it in the second wave [of overseas launches].

“When we realised about 12 months ago the market is about to change, the new government came in and made clear guidance of where they want to go [with an electric-vehicle strategy], we basically pushed harder [with head office], we got to have that sooner,” Mr Irmer said.

The delays have been exacerbated by 18-month wait times on new orders in Europe – for which Skoda prioritises electric-car production due to strict vehicle emissions standards – even in markets where the vehicle has already gone on sale.

“The only thing which was standing in the way [was an] 18-month wait time [in Europe] all of a sudden. So because they have 18 months wait … they said to us, you can have it in 18 months,” Mr Irmer told Drive.

“We said this is terrible, that’s too late. But every vehicle customer had to wait as long … even in markets which had already launched.

“So [the Enyaq] is maybe a little late, but the upside [is] we launch it with the strongest [most powerful] Skoda ever made and it’s not a bad thing either. So I’m quite happy with that outcome.”

The executive is referring to upgrades to the battery pack and electric motors about to be rolled out in Europe, which increase power in rear-wheel-drive models by 40 per cent – and boost driving range to 570km in the sleeker Coupe model.

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