Skoda’s first battery-powered model based on parent Volkswagen Group’s MEB electric platform will be called the Enyaq.
The coupe-styled SUV will go on sale in Europe at the end of the year as part of the Czech brand’s electrification plans.
Skoda said Enyaq combines the Irish woman's name Enya with the letter Q found at the end of the names of the brand’s Kodiaq, Karoq and Kamiq SUVs. The E is also a reference to electromobility.
The Enyaq will priced about the same as the Superb midsize sedan and Kodiaq midsize SUV, Skoda sales chief Alain Favey told Automotive News Europe last year.
The average selling price of the Kodiaq is around 40,000 euros to 45,000 euros. For the Superb it is about 40,000 euros.
Skoda plans to have five full-electric and five hybrid models on sale by the end of 2022. It expects full-electric and plug-in hybrids to account for 25 percent of its sales by 2025.
The Superb has a plug-in hybrid version and this year the Octavia compact car will also get a plug-in option.
Skoda recently launched a battery powered version of its Citigo minicar, which is a sister model to the VW e-Up. Both use an old-generation platform.
Skoda plans to launch a more conventionally styled electric SUV based on the MEB platform soon after the Enyaq. It will be followed by a more affordable electric car underpinned by VW Group’s new small EV architecture.
Skoda will build the Enyaq at its plant in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic, on the same production line as the Octavia. The production strategy differs from that of VW Group brands Seat and Audi, which will make their first MEB cars at VW’s lead EV facility in Zwickau, Germany, alongside the VW ID3.
The first Seat MEB car, the El Born, is expected to be revealed in production form at the Geneva auto show on March 3.
The Enyaq will not debut in Geneva show but will instead be revealed later this year, a Skoda spokesman said.
Skoda previewed the Enyaq with the Vision iV concept unveiled at last year’s Geneva show. The concept was slightly shorter than the brand's Kodiaq large SUV, but had a larger trunk. It was powered by twin electric motors to give combined power of 302 hp and featured a 83-kWh lithium ion battery pack to give a range of 500 km (310 miles) as measured on the WLTP emissions cycle.
