Can’t decide if your next car should be a hybrid or a fully electric? Maybe Skoda Australia’s boss can help you make up your mind – he doesn’t believe in hybrids, so the brand will jump straight to electric cars starting with the Enyaq launching as soon as next year.
That’s right, you won’t see Skoda selling a hybrid in Australia: not now, not ever. Not if the brand’s director Michael Irmer has anything to do with it he told us at the recent reveal of the new Fabia.
“The common hybrids like the ones done by Toyota, I think we all know what they’re good at and what they’re not good at,” he said.
Mr Irmer is not being intentionally cryptic. He has gone on the record in the past saying non-plug-in hybrids such as the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid for example are not as ‘green’ as they might seem.
“The key to these hybrids is they give people a good feeling about buying something that is seemingly green but only marginally more expensive. The reality is fuel consumption is lower in stop-and-go traffic, but in other driving conditions it can be the opposite.”
Mr Irmer sees plug-in hybrids as a better alternative. Rather than charge through on-board regenerative braking like regular hybrids, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) battery is charged by connecting to an external power supply with a cable. This can be done through household power points, a home wall unit installed for the purpose or an even more powerful public fast charger.
Mr Irmer said Skoda in Europe see PHEVs as a stepping stone to fully electric vehicles, also known as battery electric vehicles (BEVs), but said that he knocked back the chance to sell plug-in hybrids in Australia despite sister brand Volkswagen going ahead with models such as the Touareg R PHEV.
“In Europe, there’s an offering of plug-in hybrids, Skoda has plug-in hybrids and we were asked if we were interested,” he said.
“We decided back in the day that we’d jump straight to BEV cars. That’s because in Europe, the plug-in hybrids got a big subsidy as the cost of them is enormous. We have some in Australia too, in the Volkswagen group, and the sales of the plug-in hybrids are not that high because not every customer sees the benefit equal to the price step up.
“For that reason we will jump straight to BEV cars. Time will tell whether this is the right decision or not. I think that as the company goes through this transformation, it’s good in some ways to focus your energy on the one thing you believe in and what the end goal is and that is to go electric.”
Skoda Australia’s first electric car will be the Enyaq SUV. Mr Irmer was not able to tell us how much the Enyaq would cost, but it will be available in regular SUV and Coupe body styles.
In the United Kingdom, the entry-grade Enyaq 60 lists for £34,850 which is about A$61,400. The Enyaq 60 comes with has a 58kWh battery and a single electric motor with an output of 132kW and 310Nm driving the front wheels. The 60 has a range of 405km.
The Enyaq 80 bumps the price up by more than $10K but brings a 77kWh battery, a 150kW/310Nm motor and a range of 529km.
Coupe grades will most likely come in both battery sizes as well, but the body style will probably command a higher price.
Skoda confirmed to CarsGuide that the Enyaq SUV and Enyaq Coupe will be available to order in 2023, with deliveries taking place in March 2024.
As Volkswagen rolls out its electric cars in Australia such as the ID.3, ID.4 and ID.5 you can expect Skoda to launch its corresponding models which will share much of the same technology and engineering.
Keyword: Toyota RAV4 Hybrid? Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV? Nah, hybrids aren't good enough: Skoda Australia