► Performance EVs for Skoda
► Skoda sales chief confirms plan
► e-RS badge touted as ‘electric vRS’
Skoda is working on a range of performance electric vehicles loosely dubbed e-RS to indicate the EV equivalent of the Czech company’s vRS go-faster brand.
Global sales and marketing chief Alain Favey told CAR magazine that Skoda is planning performance spin-offs of its future EVs, which are in development and ready to launch from next year.
First up is the e-Citigo, basically a Czech-branded Volkswagen e-Up testbed, due for launch in late 2019; but this is just the warm-up act for the main event – the new bespoke EV crossover due a year later in autumn 2020, which will be the first to get Skoda’s proposed new e-RS derivative.
Why is Skoda planning e-RS performance electric cars?
The plan is to replicate the success of the vRS performance sub-brand, which accounts for as many as one in five Octavias sold in the UK. It’s a nice spec/trim ladder to encourage higher transaction prices.
‘There will be an e-RS,’ Favey confirmed to CAR. ‘The logic is the same as for vRS. It’s not about performance as such… it’s more about the look, the sporty seats, the experience. That’s the spirit of vRS.’
The sales boss admitted that Skoda’s first fully fledged electric car, presaged by the Vision E concept car at the 2018 Shanghai motor show (above), would not get more power than the regular model, a bigger battery or stronger electric motors – instead this will be a more cosmetic makeover inside and out.
When can I buy an electric Skoda?
Skoda’s first proper electric car will cost around the same as a top-end Kodiaq when sales start in late 2020 and it will be offered with one straightforward powertrain option for a remarkably simple range line-up. Based on the Volkswagen Group’s new MEB electric-only architecture, don’t expect different battery pack sizes like on a Tesla, as the company strips away added complexity.
‘The Vision E gives a very good idea of what to expect,’ Favey added. ‘We need to attract people who have the buying power to afford our first bespoke electric car – but we want it to be a mass market solution like the Kodiaq is.’
Expect a 300-mile range, design consistent with regular Skodas, a fast-charging network at main dealers, new, floating instrumentation and the very latest in connectivity, according to Favey.
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