Skoda is working on an affordable full-electric car based on parent Volkswagen Group's MEB platform, CEO Thomas Schaefer said.
The EV would be positioned below the brand's Enyaq IV battery-powered compact SUV, he said.
"We are working on the next model and it will be smaller than Enyaq," Schaefer said during the brand's annual press conference on Wednesday.
Schaefer did not offer any more details on the new EV's size but it's expected to be a compact model like the Enyaq.
Asked whether the car will be a hatchback like the VW brand's MEB-based ID3, Schaefer said that it was too early to disclose what the body shape would be. He did not give a launch timing for the car but he said it was a "priority" for Skoda.
Skoda launched the Enyaq last year in selected markets in Europe and is currently rolling the model out across the region.
The new EV is not related to a battery-powered small car that VW Group plans for its Spanish brand Seat to build starting in 2025 on a shortened MEB platform called MEB-Entry. This Seat Arona-sized model could be sold by the VW and Skoda brands, and possibly Audi, Seat CEO Wayne Griffiths said on March 22.
The new Skoda model will be the brand's cheapest MEB-platform electric car until the smaller EV arrives.
Skoda plans to expand its EV lineup and also launch cheaper variants of its cars in Europe to better compete with Hyundai, Kia, and French brands, Schaefer told Automobilwoche, a sister publication of Automotive News Europe, in an interview earlier this month. He said Skoda will have at least one model below the Enyaq before mid-decade. After 2025, he said he could "imagine" another full-electric car the size of the Octavia compact car.
Coupe-styled Enyaq
The sub-Enyaq EV is separate to the coupe-styled version of the Enyaq, which arrives later this year, Schaefer said. The coupe-styled Enyaq follows the same model progression as VW brand's MEB range, which now includes the ID3 and ID4 SUV, with the ID5 coupe-styled SUV arriving later this year.
Skoda builds the Enyaq in its Mlada Bolelsav plant in the Czech Republic in a departure from the strategy from the VW Group, which produces MEB compact cars for Europe at the Zwickau plant, including Audi's upcoming Q4 e-tron, which has just gone into production and the Cupra Born, which starts production in the fourth quarter.
