Skoda’s Zac Hollis has confirmed that his brand is considering the launch of a mass-market EV for India and it could be localised targeting high volumes
Skoda Auto India introduced the facelift Superb, Rapid 1.0 TSI and the all-new Karoq SUV digitally. During the launch event, Zac Hollis Director – Sales, Service and Marketing, confirmed that his brand is looking at the possibilities to debut a new energy vehicle for the domestic market. As predicted, its launch will only happen in the near future.
He expressed his intentions to see a mass market EV from the Czech Republican company for India in the long term. The brand prioritizes rolling out the first products under India 2.0 project as a heavily localised mid-size SUV based on the Vision IN concept is in the pipeline for early 2021 while the replacement for Rapid is also in the works.
Skoda has taken the charge for India 2.0 project, a revival strategy framed by Volkswagen Group for the local market with an investment of more than one billion euros. High local content courtesy of the MQB A0 IN architecture will help in competitively pricing the vehicles without sacrificing on the premium quality the brand is known for and we do expect the mass market EV to follow the same route.
In the international markets, Skoda sells the electric version of the Citigo hatchback dubbed the Citigo-e iV. It uses an electric motor capable of 83 horsepower with an estimated range of up to 274 km on a single charge. We showed you undisguised pictures of Skoda’s first full-electric crossover, Enyaq, recently and it will go on sale later this year in Europe.
The Skoda Enyaq will use a single motor and rear-wheel-drive configuration in the base variants. There will be three battery options available across four variants. The RS-spec Enyaq is expected to deliver 302 horsepower, thanks to a dual-motor setup sending power to all the four wheels. It will have a range between 340 km and 500 km on WLTP cycle.
The chances of either of these vehicles making their way to India are slim as they don’t cater to high volumes. Thus, a heavily localised EV could do a world of good for not just Skoda but Volkswagen as well, as it could be shared between them. While the mass market EV could be a couple of years away, Skoda does not seem keen on bringing the hybrids to India despite PHEVs are being expanded in the global lineup.
*Pics For Reference Only