Skoda’s second electric car will be here by this time next year - with hope the sector will be healthier then than it is now.

STILL 12 months away but already keeping the local distributor fully occupied.

The Elroq compact sports utility is a sibling to the $67,990 and upwards Enyaq that kicked off Skoda New Zealand’s electric car strategy last year and is just as important.

Physically smaller but with almost as space in the same sports utility format, Elroq will also site in a lower price range and so is charged with leveraging new opportunity.

Factory intent to produce it with a choice of four electric powertrain options and three different battery packs is giving the Giltrap Group distributor plenty to think about - all the moreso when the national appetite that was so strong for four years is now much diminished in 2024.

Picking the right combination is a challenge, Skoda NZ general manager Alex Brown said yesterday when confirming commitment to a local launch programme.

“It feels at the moment that one would have more luck picking the winning Lotto numbers.

“There’s still some work to be done. The EV landscape is completely different to where it was 18 months ago (when Enyaq announced).

“We just have to make sure - like everyone else - that the product meets consumer demand.”

Skoda NZ has been talking about Elroq for more than a year, but obviously the scene is very different now. Even Enyaq had hardly arrived before the market switched off in January this year.

The new car market is down almost 15 year year on year, but electrics are the worst spot - for the year to the end of October, 4836 full EVs had been registered. For the same period of 2023, that count stood at 15084. Just 648 EVs were registered in October - in the same month of 2023, 2035 found homes.

Brown is not unhappy Elroq isn’t available for sale right now; his hope is that the market will be better when it finally avails.

Regardless, he says Skoda’s international commitment to delivering more electrics is still strong. That sentiment is also shared by the national distributor.

“There are no second thoughts on EV. It is part of our future,” says Brown.

“I think the EV sector is at a moment in time, we just have to get through the period we are currently in.”

“We are in discussions with the factory, we are making good progress and we see it as part of our model mix for the latter part of next year.”

By the time Elroq arrives the Enyaq will have also updated to a revised look, more equipment and bigger batteries for beefier performance and range.

Timing has yet to be shared but Brown has confirmed inventory of the original car launched with high pricing, recalibrated to a more realistic level then was discounted when EV sales hit the wall has now cleared.

That’s a big relief when rivals holding year-old stock are now increasingly feeling compelled to clear their inventories at any cost.

Elroq will likely be Skoda’s last product release for 2025.

The first action is to issue the new-generation of the Kodiaq large petrol SUV. Mainstream editions will avail from February and a new performance RS is coming in July.

What New Zealand will definitely not see, though, is the new budget SUV Skoda has just unveiled to the world.

With a potential price of under $25,000 in India, where it is designed and will be built, the new Kylaq (above) would stand to be considerably cheaper than the least expensive SUV Skoda NZ sells, the $43,990 Kamiq, but Skoda has made clear it is purely for India, with no export programmes planned.

“It’s not on our radar,” Brown says of Kylaq. And even if it does one day become an export car? “We’re not pursuing it.”

Kylaq builds on the same platform as Kamiq but is Skoda’s first SUV that measures in at less than four metres long, a size that makes up 50 percent of all new car sales in India. It features an 85kW 1.0-litre turbocharged three-cylinder petrol engine.

Elroq fully revealed in Europe last month but has yet to go on sale anywhere.

Although Skoda calls it a compact SUV, it’s not much smaller than the Enyaq.

At 4.49m it is just 161mm shorter than the Enyaq in overall length, while the wheelbase – the distance between the front and rear wheels – is identical. That means cabin space is similar in both cars. The Elroq’s boot is 115 litres smaller at 470 litres.

The type introduces a ‘Modern Solid’ design language set to will be seen on all of new Skodas. For Elroq, this aesthetic includes the ‘Tech-Deck Face’ - a flat, wide structure that replaces the traditional Skoda grille, usually an octagonal-in-shape feature. That, in turn, results in split LED headlights.

There’s also a new front-end design with Skoda lettering on it, Dark Chrome exterior detailing and a colour that’s exclusive to the Elroq called Timiano Green.

The only right hand drive market to nail down specifications is the United Kingdom.

The entry ’50’ model going there soon gets a 55kWh battery with a maximum claimed range of 370 kilometres, the mid-range ’60’ cars get a larger 63kWh battery, which claims 402km on a full charge, while highest end types - labelled Edition and Sportline in the United Kingdom - come with either the 63kWh battery or a larger 82kWh unit that claims up to 580km of range.

Skoda quotes charging speeds of up to 175kw with the 82kWh battery, giving a 10-80 percent charge in 28 minutes, while the smallest battery still manages charging speeds up to 145kW and charges 10-80 percent charge in 25 minutes.

Those batteries are also en route for the facelift Enyaq, with Elroq-matching performances quoted. Brown says he is giving serious consideration to adding in a 55kWh rear-drive budget Enyaq, a model that was disregarded in the original selection.

Other Enyaq changes include a new 21-inch alloy wheel design, deletion of the rear window wiper for a cleaner appearance and badge changes. The updated car loses the ‘iV’ moniker.