From Quasar To Bermaz, Skoda has had a rather relaxed sales movement.
Some of you might remember the automotive brand Skoda. Coming from the Czech Republic, this automobile manufacturer was established in 1925 and it was the successor to the brand, Laurin & Klement.
Until the year 2000, Skoda cars were somewhat of a ‘joke’ in the automotive community with very dated designs, engineering and features. There was a time before the year 1990 when Skoda cars were sold in Malaysia, a small number and it still left a bad impression with Malaysian car buyers.
All this changed in December 1990 when the Volkswagen Group took 30 percent, then in 1991 they had 60 percent and soon it was 70 percent of Skoda and was renamed Skoda Auto with a huge investment.
The Skoda factory was rebuilt as a state-of-the art car manufacturing factory, where it was even better than Volkswagen’s own factory and a new generation of high quality, attractive and well equipped cars started rolling out.
Some time in 2003, almost 19 years ago, a Malaysian car distributor who was handling the Renault brand, Quasar Carriage started selling Skoda cars. Two models were on offer. The Fabia compact hatchback and two variants of the Octavia fastback. The Fabia was a close sibling to the Volkswagen Polo and the Octavia was closely related to the VW Jetta and Golf.
Sales were lacklustre and soon Quasar gave up on the Skoda brand. Then a few years later in 2008, Bermaz took over the Skoda brand and started selling the Octavia variants and also the large Superb. At the time the Octavia VRS which was the ‘hot version’ with the VW’s 2.0 TSI engine mated to a DSG was priced at RM188,000 whilst the VW Golf with the same engine was priced at RM199,000. Still, sales were slow and interest in the Skoda brand was fading.
Since then, Bermaz has not launched any new model Skoda but still offers after sales and parts for the cars on the road. Speak to current Skoda owners and they are happy with the build quality and drive dynamics, but resale values are low as there is no expansion of the brand in Malaysia.
Today, Skoda cars rank very high in reliability and quality around the world and even in India it sells as well as Volkswagen cars.
Now, in recent years we have seen Skoda launch some very attractive electric cars with success in Europe and also Australia. So, this should be the time for Bermaz to re-ignite Skoda in Malaysia with an electric car range only. Start with the Skoda Enyak iV which is an electric SUV based on Volkswagen’s new MEB modular EV platform.
The Enyak iV is a handsome looking 5 seat Skoda SUV that has a Cd factor of just 0.27. But if this EV is to be launched in Malaysia, there must be a name change as we will have most buyers unable to pronounce the name ENYAQ iV properly. Selling in Europe at a reasonable RM195,000 which will probably land here in our showrooms at a price starting from RM235,000 which means it will be competing against the IONIQ5 and Volvo XC40 Electric.
The Enyak iV is available in three battery sizes and five power outputs. The cheapest of which will be the rear wheel drive 60iV with a 177hp single electric motor powered by a 62 kWh battery pack that will be good for 390km of range and a 0-100 time of 9.7 seconds.
Going up the range yields a more powerful 201hp electric motor powered by an 82 kWh battery pack that can drive either just the rear wheels or all four wheels. This powertrain combination allows the Enyak iV to have a 480km range for the four-wheel drive variant and a 510km range for the rear wheel drive models.
Bermaz could also introduce the The Skoda ENYAQ COUPÉ RS iV which is the brand’s first all-electric member of the sporty RS family. While the roofline gently slopes towards the rear from the B-pillar, this new coupé offers plenty of space in the rear and a boot capacity of 570L.
Just like in the ENYAQ iV, the classic trim levels for the interior have been replaced with the Design Selections. There is a choice of two battery sizes, rear- or all-wheel drive, and four power variants with outputs ranging from 132 kW to 220 kW (RS variant). The outstanding drag coefficient (cd) of 0.234 is even better than that of the ENYAQ iV and, depending on the specification, enables a range of more than 540km in the WLTP cycle.
The ENYAQ COUPÉ RS iV is priced from RM285,000 in Europe and its landed price here in Malaysia should be from RM325,000 putting right against the BMW iX.
