No electric Skoda supermini as Czech brand focuses on SUV future

Skoda will not build a supermini alternative to the all-electric Volkswagen ID.1 or ID.2, instead choosing to focus on getting the Epiq SUV production-ready for 2026. It was previously suspected that Skoda would look to launch an electric hatchback alongside the Epiq, but those plans have apparently been shelved.

It means that Volkswagen, along with sporty sister brand Cupra, will lead the electric supermini project, with Skoda instead choosing to focus on an alternative to the jacked-up ID.2X – itself due to be revealed in concept form later this year. Highly likely to be called Epiq, Skoda’s forthcoming smallest SUV will use the VW Group’s MEB Entry platform and battery tech.

This revised plan of attack was hinted at by a Skoda insider this week, who suggested that the company’s ducks were in line to launch the Epiq ahead of VW’s ID.2 X in early 2026. Given the slightly larger Elroq’s starting price of just over £31,000, Skoda’s entry-level EV could feasibly come in at under £25k.

With buyers’ appetite for EVs stagnating, Skoda, Volkswagen and SEAT will update their petrol superminis – Fabia, Polo and Ibiza, respectively – to stay on sale until the end of the decade. Instead of two EV entries in the small-car market, Skoda will therefore hedge its bets on just one.

Yet perhaps this was the plan all along. Indeed, Skoda released a teaser sketch of its entry-level EV back in 2022, which in hindsight does appear to show subtle SUV styling cues, such as short overhangs and squared-off wheelarches. At the time, we believed the overall proportions positioned it more as a Fabia for the electric age, and something that would “provide competition to the upcoming Volkswagen ID.1”.

The slightly larger Epiq, with its longer body and raised ride height, should allow Skoda’s smallest EV to pack batteries of at least 52kWh – the same as the basic Elroq offers. That car can do up to 232 miles on the WLTP cycle, so expect 250 miles or more for the lighter, more compact Epiq. More will be revealed later this year. 

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