In recent months, a veritable wave of brands of Chinese origin have begun to land in Europe, taking advantage of the fact that the old continent is in full transition to electric mobility. These manufacturers are aware that Western groups do not have the competitive advantage that they did have in the development of internal combustion engines (rather the opposite), and They do not intend to miss the opportunity to try to gain a foothold in our market.
Some experts do not hesitate to point out that Chinese companies have several years of advantage over their European rivals in aspects such as cost reduction, something that is evident in models such as the BYD Dolphin or the MG4 Electricwhich announce much tighter rates than the Renault Megane E-TECH and Volkswagen ID.3.
martin jahn, Skoda’s director of sales and marketing, is not worried about this situation despite the rapid advances of Chinese competition. For this reason, the Czech company belonging to the Volkswagen Group will not enter the price war started by Tesla and followed by Chinese firms such as XPeng, among others.
“Price competition has a limit, we have to make a profit on EVs to finance the transition and recover the gigantic investment, but we are not going to become an EV brand as quickly as possible, we will continue our course, focusing on markets like India and Vietnam, although our main market is Europe and it will continue to be so. We have no plans to conquer the world, nor do we have plans to serve the main Asian markets.”
Skoda will launch six new electric cars between 2024 and 2026
According to Jahn, many customers don’t like to drive chinese car, which could give a breath of fresh air to traditional manufacturers, which are electrifying more slowly. Despite everything, Skoda is aware that it will have to be electrified at high speed over the next few years, since the European Union plans to ban the sale of internal combustion engines.
Between 2024 and 2026, Skoda will launch six new electric cars, including updated versions of the Enyaq and Enyaq Coupé and four completely new models. One of them will be a family (Combi) 4.70 meters long, equivalent to the popular Octavia, while the other three will be SUVs in segments B (utility), C (compact) and E (executive).
The smallest SUV will be assembled at the Spanish plant of Landaben (Navarre) and will have an approximate starting price of 25,000 euros before aid. It will measure approximately 4.10 meters long, so it will indirectly replace both the Fabia and the Kamiq.
Source | Motor.es
