What's the news?
Skoda, having spent the previous two decades morphing from a budget brand to a serious mainstream player is now embarking on its second great change - into an electric car maker. The Czech brand will show off this Vision E concept car at the Shanghai Auto Show in April, and it previews a new all-battery SUV with a claimed range of 500km. And it could be your next Skoda - the Vision E will, apparently, be on sale in production form by 2020.
It will also be self-driving, or at least largely so. Skoda says that the Vision E has been designed around Level 3 autonomy, which means it can operate independently in traffic jams, go into autopilot on motorways, stay in lane and swerve, carry out overtaking manoeuvres, independently search for free parking spaces and park and leave parking spaces alone.
Exterior
At 4.6 metres long, it's around the size of the current Kodiaq SUV, but it's lower-slung and sportier in appearance, so expect the forthcoming Kodiaq Coupe to follow the lines of this concept.
Mechanicals
With a 225kW power output, it will have the equivalent of 305hp, so expect performance to be brisk. Skoda claims that the concept can hit a modest top speed of 180km/h, but acceleration should be impressive. The Vision E can go for a claimed 500km between charges and, with two electric motors, it has fully adjustable four-wheel drive. The Vision E uses the same MEB electric architecture as the Volkswagen ID concepts.
Anything else?
In the meantime, Skoda will start ramping up its electric line-up with the launch of a plugin hybrid version of the Superb, due to arrive in 2019. That will be joined by plugin hybrid versions of the Octavia and the Kodiaq, and four other pure-electric models to sit alongside the Vision E. Skoda says that it plans to have five pure electric models on sale by 2025.