Last month, a Skoda Enyaq electric SUV in Australia for an engineering evaluation was spotted parked in Sydney. Now the same vehicle has been seen in regional NSW in the town of Dubbo.
This time around, it was spotted at Tesla’s Dubbo supercharger by an EV owner and enthusiast, Doc Adkins, and shared on Facebook.
The blue Skoda Enyaq was seen charging at the supercharger, which is one of only a handful of Tesla charging sites in the country where non-Teslas are able to charge as well.
According to Adkins, the coupe-style Enyaq is a single-motor long-range variant that is expected to be offered for sale to Australian customers in 2024.
He said it had a well-put-together interior, including a screen behind the steering wheel.
“Sat inside the car. Very nicely appointed and finished off. Lots of switches etc. Dash in front of the driver (like my Model S), and a heads-up display on the windscreen too (unlike my Model S – sigh!),” Adkins noted.
From the outside, the car looked quite sleek in the open Dubbo sun which is in contrast to the last sighting that appeared in shaded inner-Sydney. “Pretty swish looking car. The blue looked great, and so did the 21” wheels.”
On the back of the latest sighting, various EV fans were quite impressed with the styling on the Enyaq. “Looks great love Skoda cars,” one said.
Two EV fans compared it to Australia’s best-selling EV in 2023, the Tesla Model Y: “Wow the side profile looks so similar to a MY [Model Y],” and “Finally some model y competitors , cant wait.”
This vehicle is here in Australia for engineering evaluation. It was first registered in May 2023 according to NSW transport department with a build year of 2022.
Given the sightings so far, it is travelling around NSW to get as much information on Australian conditions for possible suspension tuning of production models for our local road conditions.
The Skoda Enyaq is quite a popular SUV in Europe and comes standard with a 5-star rating by Euro NCAP.
Given the Volkswagen ID.4, which sits on the same platform as the Enyaq, recently received a five-star ANCAP rating for sale in New Zealand, the Enyaq is likely to follow if Skoda does decide to bring it locally.
The Enyaq is currently sold in New Zealand and is offered in three variants. The Max variants offer over 500 km of WLTP range when paired with the 82 kWh battery pack.
From its pricing in New Zealand, we expect the starting price to be around $A70,000 when it lands in Australia in 2024. This would be above the Tesla Model Y which as of 2023 is selling thousands every month.
The popularity of electric SUVs puts the Skoda Enyaq in a good position to grab sales when it does land. With its sleeker exterior and well-finished interior, it could do just that. The real question now is whether Skoda can launch the car in Australia in time before others catch on.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.