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Skoda electrics off until next year
Richard Bosselman
November 6, 2025
New Elroq and updated Enyaq were supposed to release now - but need to sort specs to meet Kiwi tastes has taken longer than expected.
AVAILABILITY of Skoda’s latest electric endeavours, a new small model set to site as an alternate to a refreshed Enyaq, has been pushed back until next year.
Having indicated 12 months ago that it would have the new Elroq and updated Enyaq (above) here by this month, Skoda New Zealand now says the cars won’t be around until March of 2026.
The Elroq compact sports utility (below) is a technology and platform-sharing sibling to the Enyaq that kicked off Skoda’s electric car strategy in 2023 and is just as important.
Part of the Giltrap Group which has dibs on all Volkswagen Group models, the Auckland-based distributor says the delay is to it can achieve the specifications it believes is best fro this market.
It has not elaborated on what those configurations are. Both models provision from Skoda with various battery sizes, single and dual motor counts, in in a variety of trims.
Supply of NZ specification Enyaq exhausted some months ago, but since then Skoda has managed to find fresh stock by achieving cars that were originally allocated to Singapore.
Some of those 20 Sportline and RS examples are still to be sold.
Skoda NZ general manager Alex Brown says the change of introduction timing for NZ market product is nothing to do with the subdued state of the electric vehicle market.
He further insists that even at a time when its battery-pure lineup is barely evident “EV is and will remain a part of the Škoda strategy.”
This reschedule was purely about “obtaining production of the spec we wanted – our decision was delay and get it right, our customers deserve the best.”
“We expect to have a full complement of models by March.”
Physically smaller but with almost as space in the same sports utility format, Elroq is expected to site in a lower price range than its sibling and so is charged with leveraging new opportunity.
At same token, Skoda here has made clear that the much reduced stickers it was forced into displaying to clear out stock of 2023 Enyaqs is over and that a return to original RRPs is very likely. Thats been a common industry message.
Factory intent to produce Elroq with a choice of four electric powertrain options and three different battery packs has given the distributor plenty to think about since confirming the car’s introduction.
Then and now the national appetite that was so strong for four years up to end of 2023, when rebates on sub-$80,000 electrics were pulled, is now much diminished.
Picking the right combination was a challenge, Brown said in November 2024 when confirming commitment to a local launch programme.
“It feels at the moment that one would have more luck picking the winning Lotto numbers,” he famously said then.
“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.”
Enyaq had hardly arrived before the market all but switched off in January of 2024.
Brown’s hope this timer last year was that the market would be better by now - it really isn’t. Electrics have fallen into a niche, as reflected by registrations data for last month.
Battery electric vehicles accrued 507 registrations, down from 608 in September and also 141 units short of October of 2024, which itself was a tough month.
Then as now, Brown was insisting that there are no second thoughts on EV.
Although Skoda calls it a compact SUV, Elroq is 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 has the make’s ‘Modern Solid’ design language for all 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.
The provision for right hand drive spans an entry ’50’ model going there soon gets a 55kWh battery with a maximum claimed range of 370 kilometres, mid-range ’60’ cars with a larger 63kWh battery, which claims 402km on a full charge and high end types - labelled Edition and Sportline in the United Kingdom - 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 last year said he was giving serious consideration to adding in a 55kWh rear-drive budget Enyaq, a variant 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.
Meantime, Skoda NZ has completed its issue of the new-generation of the Kodiaq large petrol SUV, with the supply of the performance-themed RS having enacted.
Brown has reiterated comment earlier this year that a plug-in hybrid edition, that though regionally available - it’s just gone into Australia - will not be sold here, given the poor opportunity for PHEV at the moment.