Octavia goes electric as Skoda runs out of names for its new EV push

Skoda is currently sitting at number two in the European electric car sales charts, yet it’s not resting on any laurels with a host of new EVs heading our way soon.

The Czech brand has already confirmed that the Skoda Epiq will be unveiled this year and will arrive next year – previewed by the Epiq concept car shown in March last year. Speaking to The Independent, Skoda CEO Klaus Zellmer confirmed that the Epiq would be a €25,000 (£21,400) car and likely to become the brand’s biggest-selling EV.

After the Epiq, Skoda will launch its range-topping SUV, previewed by the Vision 7S concept from 2022. This seven-seat all-electric SUV will be an electric equivalent to Skoda’s Kodiaq seven-seater that’s available with petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid versions.

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Zellmer told us that Skoda hadn’t yet named the production version of the 7S and that it would be introduced in 2026, saying “next year we're going to introduce our flagship SUV, the seven-seater. Internally, the working title is ‘Space BEV’. That car totally embraces the new design language and our aspiration when it comes to a flagship for Skoda, which is still a functional but also totally timeless. And I'm very proud that the car actually very much resembles the Vision 7S.”

Skoda’s latest Modern Solid design language was first seen in production form on the new Elroq, with the Enyaq also receiving a Modern Solid update. Now the design language is set to evolve, with the latest iteration set to be seen on the Epiq and ‘Space BEV’.

Before then at the Munich Motor Show in September, Skoda is set to unveil a concept car with a familiar name that’ll introduce the evolved Modern Solid look. As Zellmer explained, “I'm really looking forward to sharing our Octavia concept car that will give a glimpse of what we see the next level of our design strategy will look like.

“From my point of view, it is going to create a lot of buzz and controversial discussion because the design is very much the way forward. The car is clearly recognisable as a Skoda, because it's a further step of our modern solid design language that we have established and now fully introduced with the Elroq. But it's another step.”

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The Octavia is Skoda’s biggest-selling model, with the Estate version being the best-selling variant. And Zellmer confirmed that the Octavia concept would be an electric estate model.

The new Octavia is expected to make use of the latest platform technology from the Volkswagen Group dubbed SSP or Scalable Systems Platform. Where the VW Golf and Skoda Octavia share Volkswagen’s common MQB platform, new electric versions of both iconic models will likely use SSP.

SSP replaces Volkswagen’s first generation all-electric MEB technology and will be used across the entire Volkswagen Group on larger and smaller model. The new platform promising advances in software, meaning autonomous technologies currently unavailable on VW Group models, including Skodas.

It’s also expected that SSP will support combustion engines, meaning the next generation Octavia is likely to be available as a battery electric car and with petrol and plug-in hybrid options.

That also solves any problems Skoda may have with its naming strategy. Currently, all electric Skodas’ names begin with E and end in Q, as in Elroq, Enyaq and Epiq. But Zellmer has admitted that the brand is running out of EQ names.

“This is something that you can't run forever,” said Zellmer. “I will never forget when our product people came and said what are the proposals for the small BEV. They came with a couple of names. One of them was Epic. And I said, ‘are you telling me that we can protect that and we can use it?’. They said that it's possible. I said, ‘Deal!’ That is so absolutely perfect – epic with a Q in it. But there aren't many left to do that.”

That means the ‘Space BEV’ might not get a name beginning with E and ending in Q. “We don't know yet, but it starts getting difficult with exactly that,” said Zellmer.

What Zellmer does know is that the stalwarts of the Skoda range are going to get a stay of execution. “We still see a lot of demand and longer demand for the Fabia, Scala and Kamiq and that's why we announced that we are going to extend their lifecycle beyond 2030. So, they are fully planned to be continued in our factory in the Czech Republic.”

Zellmer also revealed that Skoda was taking a leading role within the Volkswagen Group in the continual development of the platforms that used internal combustion engines. “We're taking over MQB platform responsibility, the MQB Classic and MQB Evo, which is linked to drive trains, especially ICE drive trains and the further development of them. So, this is now being something that Coda is very proud of leading in WW group,” he said.

With Skoda famous for its Simply Clever features like the umbrella in the door and ice scraper in the fuel filler flap, Zellmer said that he’s setting a challenge for his team to make the software simpler to use. “My task to our engineers is don't just think about the physical ones, also think about the digital ones. We need to become more clever, simply clever also on the digital space software.”