Skoda lines up limited EV imports for India as its hybrid case cools
Skoda will ship a small number of electric models from its global range to India early next year to build up its EV credentials, even as its case for hybrids weakens, brand director Ashish Gupta told Autocar Professiona…
- Early next year
- ~2%
What Happened
In the interview reported by Autocar India, Gupta said the flagship Peaq is being weighed for India, with the smaller Epiq and the mid-size Elroq also in the frame. None would be built locally at first; the plan is to land them in small batches to prove the brand's electric technology rather than chase big numbers, which the current duty structure makes hard to price for.
“High-volume EVs can only be introduced when there is localisation, and that is something we are working on heavily”
The company's hybrid thinking has cooled. Gupta said he would once have backed hybrids over EVs in India, but pure hybrids have been stuck near 2 percent of the market, and an unfavourable tax structure has not helped. He noted the planned India-EU trade pact would ease duties on imported petrol and diesel cars but offers no such relief for electric or hybrid models.
The immediate aim, he said, is to get electric cars into showrooms as proof points while Skoda works out which powertrains can balance regulation, demand and viable economics.
Why this matters
Skoda has no locally built EV and faces tightening fuel-economy rules in India. Importing a handful of electric cars is a low-commitment way to show technology while it weighs the far larger cost of building one locally.
Terms in This Story
- EV
- Electric vehicle, a vehicle powered fully or partly by electricity.
- ICE
- Internal combustion engine, the conventional petrol or diesel engine type.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.