Skoda's Electric SUV and How It Might Conquer Europe

It makes cars that are useful on a surprisingly large scale, and pretty soon, they could take over a section of the EV market.

This article is supposed to be about spyshots. These spyshots, which capture how a prototype is testing on a normal European road. It's not the Nurburgring, and tires aren't being tortured, so nothing exciting there.

The name of the prototype is pretty silly too - Enyaq. Sounds like the name of a furry animal in reverse. Skoda's latest names are really quite strange. Karoq, Kamiq, and Kodiaq are their SUVs, for example.

But none of that really matters here. The Enyaq is the first fully electric SUV from Skoda, and we think it could take over the electric car market in Europe. The Northern countries are the main drivers behind the demand for EVs, and although they've been buying Teslas like crazy, a Skoda might work even better.

The Enyaq has all the right credentials. It's based on the new MEB platform, designed by the Volkswagen Group for electric cars. You might think it's just going to be a copy of the VW ID.4, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Skoda has the strange ability to sniff out what average customers want, even in places like China or India.

So you want a Golf? We'll sell you a Golf with a much bigger trunk for less money; it's called the Octavia. Or you can have a more basic hatchback that's cheaper still called the Scala. Likewise, we believe the Skoda EV will have a larger trunk and/or better features for the money.

Volkswagen's own research shows electric cars could be the next big thing. Every motorist has heard about how cool Teslas are. Even something like a Renault Zoe or VW e-Up! can feel exciting with about 100 horsepower. But the Skoda electric SUV could have 200 hp as standard or 300 hp with a dual-motor setup.