Czech entry into the fast-growing electric family car class aims for a familiar feel
This week’s road test subject, the Skoda Enyaq, brings to mind a recent development in the product line of world-famous toy maker Lego.For a few years now, the Czech firm has been offering sets of building blocks that can be made into as many as three different menu-built models, as well as whatever else your imagination might inspire. You can make your blocky supercar and then disassemble it and turn it into a truck or a boat, before departing from your instruction booklet completely.And it just so happens that today’s automotive engineers may feel, to a greater or lesser degree, like they are 10 years old again, making cars in a similar way: using platform-engineered common component sets and trying to create from them cars that – to the end customer, at least – need to feel like special and distinct products. The approach isn’t new, of course, but it does seem truer than ever right now, as we enter the era of the mass-produced, big-volume, affordable electric car.Other manufacturers are following suit, but the Volkswagen Group is perhaps the most prominent user of such a widely shared electric car platform. Think the Lego analogy is dismissive of the VW Group’s work? MEB stands for Modularer E-Antriebs-Baukasten – and Baukasten translates from German as ‘child’s building set’. Fortunately they seem to be taking the actual engineering a bit more seriously than do the kids.Shared platforms for internal-combustion-engined cars have been around for a while now, but with no brand-exclusive engine and gearbox to make up the difference, it’s now even more of a challenge than before to make a distinctive electric car out of that same playset. We’ve already seen what Audi and Volkswagen have come up with, in the form of the Q4 E-tron and ID 4 respectively, the former of which we tested a few weeks ago. Now it’s the turn of Skoda’s entry, with the Enyaq.Skoda is supposed to be the more value-conscious brand of the three, but recently it has been challenging the age-old VW Group hierarchy. Only 10 years ago it was generally obvious that Skodas were the cheaper, often extra-practical alternatives to Volkswagens; today’s Skodas occasionally eclipse their German cousins with a high-quality but pleasingly no-nonsense approach. This week we’ll find out whether the Enyaq continues that into the pure-electric era.Range at a glanceSkoda offers a choice of two battery sizes in the UK: one with a 58kWh battery pack called the 60 and one with a 77kWh pack. The latter was launched as the 80, but was renamed 85 in 2024. An even smaller 50 exists but isn’t offered in the UK. On the Sportline model, you can add optionally a front motor for extra power and all-wheel drive. The sporty vRS model tops the range with even more power from its dual motors. In lieu of trim levels, Skoda offers interior design themes (Loft, Lodge, Lounge, Suite and EcoSuite) and a selection of other option packages. The Enyaq was launched as the Enyaq iV, but the suffix was dropped in 2024. Every version apart from the 60 is also available as an Enyaq Coupé, with a sloping roofline.VersionPower60177bhp80 (2021-2023)201bhpSportline 80x (2021-2023)262bhp85282bhpSportline 85x282bhpSkoda Enyaq vRS (2021-2023)295bhpvRS325bhp
Source: Autocar
