Sporty start for fully electric offering

Skoda New Zealand has launched its first fully electric vehicle by offering three variants of the Enyaq – the Enyaq Sportline, Sportline Max and Enyaq Coupe Sportline Max. 

Rodney Gillard, Skoda NZ’s general manager, says: “Over 50 per cent of our customer base prefer our sport variants – Monte Carlo, Sportline and RS, so in response to this demand we have decided to launch our fully electric offering with the Enyaq Sportline, ensuring we start this journey with our best foot forward.”

The model is characterised by a range of black design features, large wheels and a lowered sports chassis, while the interior adds to the sporty feel with its carbon-style trims, a three-spoke multifunction steering wheel and seats with integrated headrests. 

Skoda says the new flagship vehicles includes a Sportline variant of the SUV and coupe. Both are rear-wheel-drive, with an 82kW battery and an electric motor producing 150kW of power output and 320Nm of torque.

The Enyaq Sportline variant comes with a sports chassis as standard that features model-specific springs and shock absorbers and has been lowered by 15mm at the front and 10mm at the rear. Body-coloured bumpers and side sills further enhance the car’s sporty appearance. 

When the brakes are applied, the Enyaq Sportline uses its brake energy recovery system to slow down, provided the battery has sufficient storage capacity. The electric motor acts as a generator, making braking more efficient while increasing the vehicle’s range. 

Energy released during braking is also converted into electric energy and fed into the battery. 

The large alloy wheels have an aerodynamically optimised design, with the 20-inch Vega alloy wheels coming in an anthracite finish or the optional 21-inch Supernova alloys are black. 

Full-LED Matrix headlights come as standard and the Max variants of the SUV and coupe feature the marque’s Crystal Face, which has 131 LEDs illuminating the grille’s vertical slats and horizontal trim. 

Skoda says its first all-electric SUV is equipped with “state-of-the-art assistance systems”. These include front assist with predictive pedestrian and cyclist protection, and side assist with rear traffic alert, which both warn of collisions with other vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians and static obstacles. 

Meanwhile, travel assist provides active support for longitudinal and lateral steering and comprises adaptive cruise control, adaptive lane assist, traffic jam assist and emergency assist. 

Other safety features include proactive crew protect assist and up to nine airbags.  Should a collision be imminent – despite all the assistance systems or if the driver initiates a sudden braking manoeuvre – the proactive crew protect assist feature will automatically tension the seat belts and close the windows and the panoramic sliding roof, if one is fitted. 

Pricing for the Skoda Enyaq Sportline range starts from $92,990 plus on-road costs.